Room For A Queen?
by PSI-Triforce
Summary: When Zelda is forced to become Queen, it isn't long before her inexperience turns people against her. Fleeing Hyrule Castle for her own safety, she finds a friend willing to let her stay with him. ZeldaxLink.
1. Chapter 1

Zelda skipped happily through the corridors of Hyrule Castle. Today was her 18th birthday, and her parents, the king and queen of Hyrule, had promised to tell her something special for this occasion. It had been exactly eight years since Link had beaten Ganondorf and him and Zelda had sealed him away in the sacred realm. Zelda had offered Link money, or items as a reward for saving Hyrule, but he turned them all down, saying that living a normal life was enough reward for him. Zelda stopped skipping for a second, as her mind wandered to Link. She wondered where he was living now… he couldn't go back to Kokiri forest, as he was a Hylian, but she hadn't seen him in Kakariko village or Hyrule castle town either.

Remembering that she way on her way to speak to her parents, Zelda stopped thinking about Link and started to skip through the corridors again. Eventually arriving at the throne room, she entered it happily, but her face fell when she saw the serious faces of her mother and father. They didn't look like they were throwing her a party.

"Zelda, please sit down, we want to have a discussion with you." Said her father in a commanding tone.

Zelda sat down, expecting her parents to be handing her presents at any moment.

"Zelda, as you know, you turn 18 today, and so, me and your father have made a decision."

Zelda's excitement grew, and she couldn't wait to hear what they would say next.

"We've decided that you should become the Queen of Hyrule, today."

Zelda's face went white as she stared blankly at her parents.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You're going to be queen, sweetheart."

Zelda looked at her mother, then her father, then her mother again, as if this was some sort of joke.

"But… I'm not ready to be queen."

"There are no buts about it dear. Your mother and I are getting far too old to rule a country, and you are now of an age where you can legally rule. We thought you'd be excited…"

Zelda felt guilty as she saw a look of disappointment setting into her parent's faces, so she tried to act more excited.

"I am excited father, I just don't think I can rule a country just now, I'm only a young girl!"

"You will pick it up quickly. Don't worry, you'll be fine. You just need some hands-on experience, that's all."

"I… suppose I could try… are you absolutely sure about this?"

"We are sure, Zelda. We… hope you don't mind, but we have taken the liberty of moving out with a few servants. We will leave tonight. After all, we don't want to intrude upon your castle, your majesty."

Zelda blushed. She had never expected that she would become queen, and although she was feeling nervous about her new responsibilities, she was excited at the same time.

That evening, Zelda was hugging her parents at the front gate of Hyrule as the left in a horse-drawn carriage.

"Don't worry my dear, you'll be an amazing queen," said her mother as they departed from the castle grounds.

"Be sure to write and visit a lot!" Zelda screamed at her father as she saw the carriage disappear out of the gates.

Turning around to face the castle, Zelda took in a deep breath. Just how hard could being a queen be?

Zelda rushed through her bedroom door and slammed it, tears running down her face. In a matter of days, she had gone from being a publically loved figure to a hated ruler. Everything had started absolutely horribly. There was a famine near the Gerudo desert, a shortage of jobs in Kakariko, and taxes had been increased. Zelda slumped on her bed, only to be distracted by cries from outside. Looking out of her window, she saw a large group of people with torches and other makeshift weapons gathering outside the gates. Her guards were doing their best to hold them back, but they were loud and violent. As one of them spotted Zelda's face looking at the group from her window, he pointed to her and screamed angrily. Zelda panicked and ducked, only to avoid shards of glass as various objects were thrown through her window. Crying harder, Zelda crawled over to her bed and tried to think of a way out of this mess. She wished she had never become queen…

Just then, an idea entered her head. It sounded ridiculous at first, but the more she thought about it, the better it sounded. Running to her desk, Zelda picked up a quill and started to scribble a message.

_Dear Impa._

_I am writing this to let you know that I am fleeing Hyrule Castle for the good of myself and my kingdom. I hereby leave the entire country to you. You are experienced in social matters and politics, whereas I am a clueless and inexperienced ruler. Please don't look for me._

_Zelda_

Zelda looked at the note she had written, and ran to her wardrobe to begin to pack. After fitting 2 of her dresses into a bag, she grabbed her purse, filled with enough rupees to buy her food for a month, and put on a large black gown she had intended to only use for funerals, and begun to slowly exit her room and make her way down through the castle. Upon quietly exiting through the front door, she saw that the rioters had vanished. She blessed Din, Nayru and Farore for their departure, before slowly departing herself. Taking one last look back at Hyrule Castle, she left in the darkness of the night, desperate to find a new place to live, hoping that one of her friends would help her.

Zelda paused where she stood, before thinking to herself, 'What friends?'

Most of the sages wouldn't help her. The Gerudos, Gorons and Zoras had all been displeased with her, so Darunia, Nabooru and Ruto wouldn't help. She couldn't go back to Impa, and she couldn't stay in the Kokiri forest with Saria. Racking her brains, she remembered two people who hadn't been sages who had shown kindness to her. Malon and Link. Unfortunately, she had no idea where Link was, so she decided to head to Lon Lon Ranch. Walking as quietly as she could, she slipped out of Hyrule Castle town into the open grounds of Hyrule itself.

Turning back to face the town she had called home for 18 years, she wiped a tear from her eye and departed.


	2. Chapter 2

Link yawned as he lay back on the coast of Lake Hylia. Casting his fishing rod out as far as he could, he relaxed and slowly waited for a bite. Ever since he had ended his career of heroism, he had tried to live a simple life. This didn't stop people from coming to him first when one of their friend's was in trouble, or when they needed some help with something, but his life had gotten a lot more relaxing, and Link was happier that way. Happier…

Link sighed as he felt an emptiness inside of him. All he'd wanted as a child was to live a normal life, and now he was. He had a simple shack on Hyrule Field, between Kokiri Forest and Lake Hylia, and he was living peacefully with no interruptions. But something still felt missing, and he didn't know what. He considered if it was loneliness for a few seconds, bringing him back memories of the princess whom he once saved. True, he'd had feelings for her, but he was sure it was nothing more than a childhood crush. Besides, he was a commoner, while she was a princess. There was no way she'd ever be able to be in a relationship with him. He hadn't even seen her in years. He wondered if she even still remembered him, but he was distracted as he heard someone calling him.

Looking into the lake, he saw the grinning face of Ruto. Although their friendship had been shaky after Link finally told Ruto that he wasn't going to marry her, despite accepting the 'Zora engagement ring' she had gradually come to like him as a friend, and she was his main link to the gossip of Hyrule, apart from his occasional visits to Saria.

"Hey Link," Ruto started, not letting him respond before continuing, as she was so eager to tell him the news, "Did you hear what happened to Zelda?"

Link's interest in the conversation immediately grew as he heard Zelda mentioned. Ruto didn't wait for him to tell her whether he had or hadn't already heard, and desperately continued.

"She's vanished. She became queen three days ago, but now everyone in Hyrule hates her for being an incompetent ruler. Last night, she apparently fled the castle, leaving all of Hyrule to one of her servants. It was all over the paper this morning, she hasn't been seen since!"

Link let out a loud gasp as he pictured Zelda, starving and alone, wandering through Hyrule, and he instinctively grabbed his sword and stood up. Ruto didn't seem surprised.

"Yeah, I figured you'd want to go and look for her. Good luck, and if you find her, say hi from me."

Link barely heard what Ruto was saying as he ran into Hyrule Field, desperate to make sure Zelda was safe.

Meanwhile, Zelda had visited Lon Lon Ranch, only to be told abruptly by Talon that she wasn't welcome there. ("Your taxes killed one of my cows!") Desperate to find a place to sleep, she had slept outside the ranch, before waking up slowly in mid-afternoon and making her way into Kakariko village, trying her best not to be recognised, and to find some food.

Slowly stepping into a café near the entrance to Kakariko village, Zelda stood at the end of the queue and nervously looked around. Luckily, nobody recognised her. Slowly pulling some rupees out of her purse, she said quietly to one of the workers,

"May I please have some mushroom salad and a bottle of Lon Lon milk, please?"

The worker nodded, although he stared at Zelda suspiciously, as if he almost knew who she was. Taking her food, Zelda quickly sat down and began to eat. She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, and was starving, but tried to blend in with the rest of the customers. She heard a few people behind her whispering, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone pointing at her. Eating the rest of her food quickly, she got up and started to leave, until she made a mistake. Someone at the back of the café said, "Zelda?" and by force of habit, Zelda turned around, accidentally confirming these people's suspicions. As some of them got up and started to walk towards her, she hurried out of the door and left as quickly as possible, but when she looked back, she saw a group of people following her.

Starting to run, she made her way down the stairs to Kakariko, before feeling someone giving her a shove from behind. Screaming and falling, she rolled down the rest of the way before landing awkwardly on her stomach. Trying to stand up, she was pulled up by an angry Hylian woman who stared her in the face and muttered,

"You've got a lot to answer for, queen!"

Turning to face the crowd, Zelda only caught a glimpse of them before one of them punched her in the face. She tried to scream, but another woman held a firm hand over her mouth. She felt herself being punched again, this time in the stomach, and fell to the ground in agony. Trying to force herself to stand up, she failed as she felt another woman grabbing a handful of mud and rubbing it on her face.

"You got my husband fired, and now I can't afford to feed my children!"

"Your taxes have left me homeless!"

Many murmurs went up from the angry crowd as Zelda was pulled up, then pushed back down again. As she let tears run from her muddy eyes, Zelda realised that finally, after depending on Impa and Link to defend her in all of her battles, she was truly alone.

"Stop your crying, bitch!" spat one villager, who kicked Zelda in the face, making her taste blood. For a second, Zelda felt her head being lifted up, before she was pushed into the murky river, and her head was held under the water while she screamed.

Link had been riding around Hyrule field for many hours now, but he had still not seen who he was looking for. It was beginning to get dark, and he knew it wasn't safe for Zelda to be out, alone, in a dark country. Scanning the land one last time, he saw no sign of Zelda, and reluctantly started to return home, until he heard faint jeering in the distance, coming from Kakariko village. Curiously making his way there, what he saw terrified him. An unruly crowd of rioters were beating a poor woman senseless. Link felt rage grow inside of him as he heard one of the women shout, "Stop your crying, bitch!" at their weeping victim.

Grabbing his sword and running towards the crowd, he saw the woman being pushed into the river, and he growled in disgust. Diving to the woman's side, he began to pull her out of the river as she gasped for air, much to the anger of the crowd, who protested furiously.

"Hey, don't try and protect her!"

"Stay out of this, tunic-boy!"

Link swung his sword and let out a battle cry. Most of the people backed away slowly, but a few remained, eager to fight.

"Oh, am I meant to be scared by some stupid sword?"

Once Link was sure that the poor woman could breathe, he jumped across the river and started angrily attacking his enemies. However, upon seeing that Link meant business, the Hylians turned and fled the scene, leaving Link alone with the distraught woman, who Link quickly ran back to help.

"Madam, are you ok?"

Zelda recognised the soft voice of Link, and looked up slowly, pulling her soaking wet hair back from around her face, which was still covered in mud.

"Link? Is that you?"

Link raised his eyebrows, and responded, "Yes, I am Link. Have we… met before?"

Zelda's eyes grew wide as she misunderstood. Bursting into more loud tears, she thought that even Link didn't recognise her any more.

"Oh, I'm sorry madam… here…"

Link apologised and took off his green tunic, using it to wipe the mud off of Zelda's face. However, when Link had wiped Zelda's eyes clear, he looked into them for a moment and immediately realised who he was speaking to. Dropping his tunic in surprise, he whispered,

"Oh my goodness! Princess, I mean, Queen! Are you alright?"

Zelda momentarily stopped crying as she looked up at Link's face, slowly shook her head, and resumed crying.

Link had no idea what to do, so he slowly embraced Zelda and whispered things to her.

"Don't worry… I'm here… It's ok…"

As Zelda stopped crying, she realised how bad her wounds were.

"Link, I think I need-" was all she got out before she fainted in his arms.

Zelda slowly opened her eyes, only to see that she was inside a house instead of outside in the cold. Sitting up, she saw Link, asleep, on a chair next to her bed. Gently rocking him, she tried to wake him up, and as soon as he saw that she was awake, he bolted up, awake and alert.

"Princess, I mean, Queen, I mean, Zelda… are you ok?"

"I'm fine Link, thank you…"

"It's too late tonight, but I promise, tomorrow I can take you back to Hyrule Castle safely."

"No!"

Link raised an eyebrow as Zelda seemed terrified at the idea of going back to being the ruler of Hyrule.

"Zelda, you are the rightful ruler of Hyrule, surely you must return there."

"I can't go back Link. I don't know anything about being Queen. Look at me, I've only been Queen for 3 days and already people despise me. Please, don't make me go back."

"I… I won't make you go back if you don't want to. But I'm concerned for your safety! Where are you even staying?"

Zelda blushed and whispered something that Link didn't hear.

"Pardon?"

"I said I don't have anywhere to go, ok?" Zelda snapped, before realising that she was sounding rude. "I was looking for someone to stay with… I couldn't find anyone…"

Link opened his mouth to console Zelda, but had a brainwave. Putting his hand on Zelda's shoulder, he suggested, "You could stay with me."

Zelda gasped and replied, "Really? You'd let me?"

"Of course I would. I can't have my Queen being homeless, can I?"

Zelda pulled Link into a hug and didn't let go for a few minutes. She opened her mouth to thank Link, but he spoke first.

"We can talk about this in the morning Zelda. I found a bag of your clothes with you and brought it here, as well as your purse, so your things are here, but your wounds are still bad. If you get a lot of sleep tonight, you should be all healed soon."

"But Link, I can't sleep, we have so much to talk about!"

Link opened his mouth, but shut it as a sly grin came across his mouth. Turning around, he fumbled with something, and Zelda asked what he was doing, but he didn't respond until he had successfully found a special object.

"So you can't get to sleep?"

Zelda shook her head.

"Then close your eyes," Link said with a smile.

Zelda closed her eyes, and then realised what Link was doing. As she felt herself becoming sleepier, she listened to the melody Link played so beautifully on the ocarina and recognised it. Zelda's lullaby.

Before she fell completely asleep, Zelda whispered to Link, "You won't regret this, I promise."

Link smiled, and stopped playing as he gazed at Zelda sleeping, and already knew that she was right.


	3. Chapter 3

Link woke up early the next morning, and yawned as he pulled a small blanket off of himself. The floor wasn't as comfortable as his usual bed, but he couldn't make Zelda sleep on a floor. She was probably already having a hard time adjusting herself from her normal life at Hyrule Castle. Standing up and stretching, Link silently vowed to try and make Zelda feel as welcome as possible, and to start with, he could have her breakfast ready by the time she woke up. Grabbing his fishing rod, he moved swiftly out of the door, only to return successfully a few minutes later, with a giant salmon.

Preparing it quickly, he managed to start cooking it over the fireplace. After a few minutes of boiling, Link took out the fish and gently placed it on one of his finest plates. Smiling, he was distracted when he heard a door opening behind him. Turning around, he saw Zelda, groggily standing in the doorway, who noticed him and muttered, "Morning…"

As soon as Zelda noticed the fish, Link noticed her facial expression change. First, her eyes opened, and her mouth twisted in disgust, as if she was thinking, 'Does he really think I'm going to eat that?', but before she said anything, she saw that Link was looking at her and quickly changed her expression to a much sweeter face, which said,

"Oh, how splendid! You caught some food!"

The false enthusiasm was dripping in her voice, but Link didn't want to seem rude, so he ignored it as Zelda continued.

"How… nice of you to prepare a meal, but, I'm sorry to say, I'm not terribly hungry at the moment…"

At that moment, there was a loud crash at the front door. Link and Zelda jumped backwards as three armed Hylian guards rushed into the room. One of them pointed at Zelda and screamed,

"She's here! Get her!"

Link automatically drew his sword and jumped in front of Zelda, but he found himself being pushed out of the way by Zelda herself, who ran towards the guards and shouted to them,

"Please, save me from this madman!"

Link dropped his sword in shock and was quickly subdued by a guard, who forced a pair of handcuffs onto his hands and dragged him to his feet scruffily. Link opened his mouth to protest, but Zelda spoke first.

"I was walking through Kakariko when this… evil man kidnapped me! Then he forged a note from me and planted it in Hyrule Castle! Please, get me back to my throne, I beg of you!"

Link was too shocked to speak. Here was Zelda, the woman he had taken into his house to help her recover and keep her protected, and now she was getting him arrested just to get herself out of trouble. He tried to speak again, but was bundled into a cage within a carriage, while the guards escorted Zelda to the front seat. Link stood up, which was no easy job considering his hands and legs were both cuffed, and tried to catch Zelda's eye, and eventually he overheard her whispering to one of the guards,

"Are his hands and feet bound?"

The guard replied with a gruff 'yes' so Zelda asked, "May I talk to him?"

The guard was confused as to why Zelda would want to do such a thing, but he permitted it and stopped the carriage, leading Zelda from the front seat around to the cage, and letting her in.

"If he tries to attack you, just shout." Instructed the guard as he locked the cage and went back to the front to tend to the horses pulling the carriage.

Link opened his mouth, but was again interrupted by Zelda, who was whispering to avoid anyone else hearing.

"Link, I know you must be confused, but listen. Do you know what the punishment is for deserting your position as queen? You get at least 10 years in jail, that's what! I can't face that, and I'm sorry, but this is the only way to stop it!"

Link's face fell and his blue eyes began to fill with tears as he pleaded with Zelda.

"What will happen to me?"

"Don't worry, I'll get the court to go easy on you, you'll only get 2 years in jail, maximum."

Link's eyes widened as he took all this in.

"Two years? I'm going to be in jail for two whole years?"

"Ok, fine, I lied, it will probably be five or something…"

"Five years!"

"Link, keep your voice down!"

Zelda paused to make sure nobody had heard them, before continuing.

"Listen, Link, I know that this is tough, but isn't it better for Hyrule this way? They can't see their own Queen being thrown in Jail for 10 years! Wouldn't it be better for you to just, please, do this?"

Link was on the verge of tears when he felt something. Zelda placed his hand in her's and whispered, "For me?"

Link paused for a second before silently nodding, with tears beginning to fall from his eyes. This earned him nothing but a pat on the back from Zelda, who whispered, "Don't worry, after 5 years is up, you can go back to living in your house, and everything will be back to normal, ok?"

Link reluctantly nodded again before breaking down completely, with tears pouring down his face. This still didn't seem to faze Zelda in the slightest, as she shouted, "Guards! I am finished here!" and was quickly escorted out with not so much as a goodbye for Link.

They arrived at the castle soon after, and Link was dragged into a dungeon by a burly guard.

"Your case will be held immediately in the high court, we'll be back for you in a few minutes."

Link didn't have the energy to nod as he slumped into the corner of his cell, his heart pounding and his eyes still watering. Why was all this happening to him? Why wasn't Zelda helping him? Link didn't have time to ponder these questions for long, as another guard soon opened the cell and dragged him into a huge, marble room, where several people were sat in the balconies, watching him. Zelda was amongst them, but this didn't calm down Link, especially when he saw an old noose hanging in the corner, which he assured himself was just for decoration.

"Please state your name for the record."

Link was shocked to hear the voice of the judge, but nervously stuttered his name.

"Link."

The judge sighed. "Alright, Link. You are charged with the kidnapping of Queen Zelda, and also treason. How do you plead?"

Link looked up and saw Zelda who was urging him to say something. Swallowing hard, he obeyed her.

"I plead guilty."

Everyone in court seemed to relax. Link hoped that it was because they wouldn't be punishing him too harshly, but he knew deep down that it was because pleading guilty meant that nothing had to be discussed except the punishment. The jury, who were sitting with Zelda, whispered to her. Link let out a sigh of relief. If Zelda was deciding the verdict, at least she wouldn't be too harsh on him. However, Link's face fell as Zelda took a long time talking with the jurors and she didn't appear to be arguing with any of their ideas. Eventually, Zelda stood up and cleared her throat, before delivering the verdict.

"This man has committed the worst crime, and therefore, by law, is required to receive the worst punishment."

Link cringed and wondered when he would be getting out of jail.

"This man shall receive the death sentence."

Link's eyes opened wider than they had ever been before as he looked up at Zelda in disbelief, who shrugged at him when nobody was looking and mouthed, 'I'm sorry!'

So this was it. After saving her life numerous times, taking her into his house, and showing her nothing but kindness, Zelda was ordering Link's death. He half-heartedly tried to tell himself that she had no power over the final decision, but even he didn't believe that.

Link began to silently cry again and he felt guards dragging him towards the noose, and he thought of all the things he would never do. He would never meet Ruto at Lake Hylia again. He would never see Epona have foals. He would never see Saria, Malon, or anyone else he cared about again.

And it was all because of Zelda. Looking up again, Link was just in time to see her leaving with a blank expression on her face. She didn't care, and she never had.

Link broke down even further, loudly letting tears stream down his face as he felt a rope being tightened around his neck. As he took one last look of the court through tears, he heard a lever moving, and then he felt himself falling. Everything went black.

...

Link sat bolt upright on the floor and panted. Looking around for a few seconds, he calmed down. He was still in his house, and he could hear Zelda sleeping softly in another room. Breathing heavily, he found a towel and wiped the mixture of sweat and tears from his face. Trying to get all memories of his nightmare away, he took a few more deep breaths and reassured himself.

Zelda was his friend, and she was truly grateful to him for letting her stay with him. She would never do anything that she had done in the dream, and she would certainly never betray him like that…

Would she?


	4. Chapter 4

Zelda woke up bright and early, and for a second, she thought she was still in Hyrule Castle until she opened her eyes and noticed that the ceiling was a lot lower than she was used to, as well as being wooden. Sitting up, she remembered that she was in Link's house, and she remembered that he had been very generous to her. Vowing to pay him back somehow, she got out of bed and slipped into one of her dresses, before stepping out into Link's living room. Link wasn't up yet, but he was asleep on the floor with a blanket covering him.

Now that Zelda was fully awake, she took more notice of Link's humble home. After all, thanks to Link's kind offer, she'd be staying here for a while. The cottage only had 3 rooms; the medium sized living room, which she was standing in, which contained a table and 2 chairs at one end, and a small fireplace and stove at the other, and 2 other rooms which branched off. One of the rooms only contained a bed, which was where Zelda had slept, whilst Zelda didn't know what the other room was. Zelda gave a small surprised cry as Link yawned and opened his eyes.

Link didn't seem as excited to be starting the first day with his roommate, as he muttered, "Morning…" before standing up and yawning again loudly. Scratching his head, he noticed Zelda watching him and snapped, "What?!"

Zelda was startled and taken aback by Link's temper, but remembered her promise to herself that she would pay him back, so she put his attitude aside and asked,

"So, what are we doing today?"

Link put on a confused expression and grabbed his fishing rod.

"Well, I'm going fishing for some food, what will you be doing?"

Zelda raised her eyebrows. She had assumed that she would be joining Link, but he didn't seem to care. Remembering her vow to help him, she asked sweetly, "Well, is there anything I can help with?"

Link just shrugged and said, "Can you fish?"

Zelda blushed and shook her head. She was about to ask him if he could teach her, but Link spoke first.

"Can you cook?"

Zelda shook her head again nervously, and saw Link muttering something under his breath, but she could only make out the word 'useless'. Feeling hurt, she remembered one thing she could do.

"I can clean!"

It was Link's turn to raise his eyebrows, but he seemed satisfied that Zelda would be doing something.

"Fine, and if you finish, I have some old newspapers here so you can start looking for your own place."

Link thought the conversation was over as he opened the door to leave, but Zelda pulled him back.

"My own place? I thought you said I could live here…"

"Well, yeah, I just meant a week or something. I can't let you stay forever, this isn't a hotel."

Zelda opened her mouth to respond but Link had already left, slamming the door behind him. Sitting down on the floor, Zelda realised that in a week, she would be back out in Hyrule, defenceless and powerless. Zelda tried to think clearly but her mind was overrun by fear, and she realised that the only way she could save herself would be if she could persuade Link to let her stay longer.

Suddenly, Zelda got an idea. If she was useful to Link, he'd be more willing to let her stay. Remembering that she had said she would try to clean, a smile crept over her face as she looked around for a rag and started to try and make the house shine. When Zelda opened one of the cupboards, there were no rags, but some of Link's tunics, so she took the scruffiest one she saw and soaked it in some water before starting to scrub the floor. However, before she shut the cupboard, she noticed a huge fish that Link had caught. Sloppily picking it up, she figured that Link would be more likely to want her to stay if she could cook as well. Dropping the fish in a pot of water near Link's fire, she made sure the water was bubbling with heat before she left the pot to continue washing the floor.

Zelda smiled. All her life she had servants who had done this sort of thing for her, but now that she was doing them herself, she felt useful. Unfortunately, when she started to think about how Link would react to her work, she began to daydream.

"_Zelda, I'm home!"_

_Link walked into the house, as Zelda turned away from the cooking to ask Link how his day was, as she did every day. She had been living with him for almost a month now._

"_Oh, you know. The usual."_

_Link had barely sat down before Zelda swiftly placed a plate of steaming fish and a glass of water on the table in front of him. Link gave a lovesick sigh and looked up to Zelda._

"_Oh Zelda, I'm so glad you decided to stay here. I don't know what I'd do without you…"_

_Zelda smiled and blushed, so Link stood up and gave her a warm hug._

"_I mean it Zelda," Link whispered, kissing Zelda on the cheek. "I don't know what I'd do without you."_

Zelda gave a startled scream and snapped out of her daydream. Why, in her fantasy daydream, was Link kissing her? He'd never shown any interest in her before, and she'd never thought of him as anything more than a close friend. So why was he hugging and kissing her in her fantasies?

Zelda snapped out of her thoughts as her nose caught a burning smell. Sniffing the air, she remembered the fish and turned around, only to see a cloud of smoke rising from the pot. Screaming, Zelda ran towards it and tried to pull the fish out. She grabbed it with both hands before realising how hot it was, as she screamed and dropped it onto the floor. Stepping away from the fire, she looked at her hands, only to see them both scorched red with burns. Moaning in pain, her problems doubled as the back of her dress slipped into Link's fire, and quickly ate their way up to her back. Screaming louder and pulling off the dress, she threw it to the floor and stamped out the flames.

Breathing heavily, she looked around for a second and surveyed the scene. There was a smouldering fish on the floor, whilst boiling water was still spreading around it. One of Zelda's dresses lay next to it, almost burnt to ashes, while Zelda herself feared Link returning any second. Running into the bedroom, she quickly put on one of her other dresses, but when she was about to step outside, she heard the front door open. She paused and heard Link, as he took a few steps forwards. He was eerily quiet, so much so that Zelda could even hear him opening his mouth and taking a deep breath before he shouted,

"ZELDA! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?!"

Zelda flinched and gulped as she slowly stepped out in front of Link. He looked furious, so Zelda tried to explain.

"I was… trying to clean and cook for you-"

"This is your idea of cleaning? I leave you here for one morning and you wreck the place?"

"No, I… I was daydreaming and…"

Zelda burst into tears. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to faze Link in the slightest.

"Oh, great, here come the waterworks! But hey, I shouldn't be mad at you. After all, while my house was being flooded and burned at the same time, you were fantasizing about kittens and unicorns!"

Link's words hurt Zelda, but as she tried to apologise, he opened his mouth again.

"Get out, now!"

Zelda looked up.

"But Link… I have nowhere else to go!"

"If this is what you do, I'm not surprised!"

Zelda didn't move, so Link angrily made his way over to her and grabbed her by the arms. Zelda started to scream and apologise, but it was too late. Link pushed her out through the front door before slamming it in her face. She tried to reason with him through the door, but he didn't listen.

"Link, please! I'm sorry about what happened, but I didn't mean it!"

Her pleading was met with silence.

"Please, I'll do anything!"

When silence answered her again, another tear ran down her face as she turned away from Link's house, only to discover what could make her day even worse. Riding nearby had been a search party of Hylians looking for her, and they didn't look friendly.

Turning back to Link's door, she knocked on it furiously, saying quickly, "Link, you have to let me in! There's another group of people after me! You have to help!"

When Link still refused to answer, Zelda tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Link, I'm not joking! Link, please! I need help! Link!"

As she felt an arm grabbing her, she let out one last cry,

"LINK!"

But he still didn't answer.

Being pulled backwards, Zelda turned to face one of the people who had attacked her in Kakariko village.

"Well well well, look who we found here!" he spat menacingly in her face. Looking behind the man, Zelda noticed several others who had been involved with the riot, and before she had time to scream, one of them covered her mouth with their hand.

"Like we said yesterday night, you've got a lot to answer for, Queen," one woman muttered before charging at Zelda and pushing her to the ground. Zelda tried to get up, but found her arms and legs held back by other people. Whimpering and crying, she heard cruel, mocking laughter as she felt something being done to her leg. When the mob surrounding her took a few steps back, she saw what they had been laughing at. One end of a rope was tied around her leg. The other was tied to the saddle of a horse. Zelda didn't have time to scream as the horse started to gallop, with the riot laughing around her.

Trying to keep her focus, Zelda saw the world moving by at tremendous speed as she dragged behind the wild horse. Banging her head on rocks, Zelda felt faint as blood poured down her face. Blood mixed with tears, as Zelda realised that no one was going to save her this time. She just had enough energy left to turn her head and see where she was heading. Her eyes would have widened, if she'd had the energy, when she saw that the horse was heading straight towards a fence. The horse jumped over the fence with ease. Zelda opened her eyes one last time and saw the fence getting closer, before her eyes closed and she heard a crash. Everything went black.

Zelda sat up in her bed and panted, covered in sweat and tears. Upon seeing her surroundings, she let out a huge sigh of relief. She had just had a bad dream. She was in Link's house, and he hadn't treated her with anything but kindness. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she took deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. Link was her friend, and he would never abandon her like that, leaving her for dead.

Would he?


	5. Chapter 5

After Link tried to calm himself down from his nightmare, he forced himself to try to go back to sleep, but he just couldn't. Peering outside through the small window next to the door, he could see that the sun was beginning to rise. Sighing, he realised that there was no point in trying to get back to sleep and reluctantly got up again. Looking through some cupboards for some water, he found a small bottle of it and drunk some, hoping it would relax him, but it couldn't. Shaking his head, Link couldn't get the image of Zelda betraying him out of his head. At the back of his mind, there was a part of Link that was beginning to think that taking in Zelda was a mistake.

Putting down the bottle, Link forced those thoughts away and felt disgusted with himself. Zelda had done nothing wrong, it was just a dream, and Link wasn't going to make a dream change the way he treated Zelda. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a small scream coming from Zelda's room. Walking to the bedroom door slowly, he heard Zelda whimpering. She sounded freaked out, so Link decided to risk knocking on the door.

"Zelda, are you ok?"

Zelda sounded frightened by the sound of the knock, but sounded relieved when she heard Link's voice.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Just a… bad dream."

There was a pause as the conversation seemed over, and Link turned away from the door, but he heard Zelda asking him a quick question.

"Link, what time is it?"

"Early morning as far as I know. About 5 o'clock."

"Oh," Zelda paused "Do you always get up this early?"

"No, I just… had a bad dream too."

Link heard Zelda opening the door and turned around. She had changed her dress, but it looked as though she'd been crying in her sleep, but as much as she was desperate not to tell Link her dream, she was curious about his.

"What did you dream about, Link?"

Link felt it would be impolite to refuse to answer Zelda, but he was desperate not to talk about his dream.

"I'm sorry, but I'd prefer it if I didn't talk about it."

"Oh, please Link!"

"Zelda, I really don't want to talk about it."

Link was now looking down at his feet, and Zelda remembered that she'd vowed to herself that she would try not to annoy Link while she was there, so she quickly muttered, "Sorry, I won't ask again."

For a few seconds, there was silence, before Link's curiosity kicked in.

"So what was your dream about?"

Zelda looked taken aback. She, like Link, was desperate not to recall her dream, but at the same time, she was a guest in Link's house, and he had shown so much kindness to her.

"I… I don't want to talk about it either, sorry."

There were a few more seconds of silence as neither one wanted to talk, before Zelda muttered "I'll tell you my dream if you tell me your's."

Link was silent for a second before muttering, "Deal," and starting to tell Zelda his dream.

"… and then you just left after I was sentenced to death, but luckily I woke up before they killed me."

Zelda had tears welling in her eyes as she finished listening to Link's dream.

"Oh, Link. I'm sorry, I really am."

"Don't be. It's not your fault, Zelda."

Zelda grabbed Link's hand and held it tight.

"I promise Link, I will never let something like that happen to you."

Link smiled as any fears that had been left in him from his nightmare evaporated. Feeling cheerier, he asked,

"So what was your dream about?"

Zelda still didn't want to say, but Link had kept his side of the deal, so she kept her's. Taking a deep breath, she started,

"… tied to the horse and dragged along, but I woke up just before I would have died."

Link looked horrified at Zelda's dream, and retelling it hadn't been easy for Zelda, who was on the verge of tears again. She had left out the part of the dream where she daydreamed that Link kissed her, but what she retold was still enough to make her sad. Pulling Zelda to her feet, Link pulled her into a hug and comforted her.

"I swear to the Goddesses, I will never throw you out of my home, Zelda."

Zelda smiled and broke the hug to look at Link.

"You mean it?"

"I do, and trust me, you can stay here as long as you like. I don't mind if you never leave, honestly."

Squealing with delight, Zelda pulled Link into a tighter hug and whispered, "Thank you!" as many times as she could.

However, their close moment was ruined by a loud knock at the door. Zelda jumped slightly, while Link was suspicious. Whispering to Zelda, "I'm not expecting anyone," he then asked, "Who is it?"

"Link? It's Impa, and I need to talk to you about the whereabouts of Zelda."

Zelda's eyes went wide as she realised she had been found. Looking around, she dived under Link's table and pulled a chair in front of her before signalling Link to open the door.

"Impa, what's this about the princess?"

Impa stepped inside quickly and slammed the door shut.

"Stop playing games Link, you were seen yesterday rescuing Zelda from Kakariko Village. She is required to return to her duties as Queen immediately, and if that means searching your premises, then so be it."

"Impa, slow down, I really don't know what you're on about!"

"I told you to stop playing games, Link!"

Zelda shuddered under the table. She definitely didn't want to go back to her royal duties, and she hoped Link could keep Impa from discovering her.

"Link," started Impa, eerily quiet, "I have several guards surrounding your shack, and if I feel that you are hiding something, I will order them to search this place, now, and if we find one shred of evidence here, you will be arrested immediately and face charges for treason."

"Impa, why don't you just calm down and maybe I can get you something to drink?"

"DAMN IT LINK, TELL ME WHERE ZELDA IS!"

Link jumped when Impa raised her voice, and Zelda flinched under the table. Impa seemed embarrassed at her sudden outburst, and nervously explained her behaviour to Link.

"I apologise Link, but I have been the bodyguard and caretaker of Zelda for 18 years, and I did not look after her since she was born so she could abandon her kingdom! Hyrule needs her!"

Link said nothing, but made one move. He stepped slightly closer to the bedroom, where Zelda had slept last night. Impa immediately noticed this, and asked inquisitive questions.

"What's in that room?"

Link took another step towards the room and quickly muttered, "No!" but Impa was already walking towards it.

Impa opened the door and Zelda flinched again as she heard her gasp. She knew that one of her dresses was on the floor there, as well as her purse. Impa only took a few seconds to look around before turning towards Link, but before she could say anything, Link appeared to be confessing.

"Alright, fine, you caught me! Zelda was here!"

Link pulled the chair from right in front of Zelda, and for a second, she thought that Link was revealing her, before Link sat down on the chair and put his head, covered by his arms, onto the table, appearing to be crying.

"Link? What do you mean?"

Link looked straight into Impa's eyes and whispered, "I tried to get her to stay, I really did."

"Link, slow down and tell me what happened!"

Link stopped crying and took a deep breath before talking to Impa.

"You were right about one thing, I did find her outside Kakariko Village. The poor girl had been attacked, so I offered to put her up for the night. When morning came, I asked her to stay for her own safety, but she… said that she had to leave. She wouldn't tell me anything, only that she didn't want to drag me into her problems. I really wanted her to stay, I… I can't think about her… out there all alone…"

"Well, don't worry about that, I'll find her."

"Don't look for her Impa. Don't."

Impa was startled by Link's confession, but shocked at his command for her to stop searching.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Why should you? Zelda didn't tell me much, only that she hated being Queen and the citizens of Hyrule hated her being Queen. Why would you be forcing her back into that?"

"Oh? Would you rather have her wandering the streets, like when you found her in Kakariko?"

"Would you rather force her to be living under constant threats of death?"

Impa, for once, couldn't answer Link's question, so he continued.

"When I found Zelda, she was almost dead. Heck, if I hadn't turned up, you would have found her body by now. She told me she was going away from Hyrule to start a new life, where people wouldn't know her. I wanted to follow her too, but she wouldn't let me. She wanted a completely fresh start."

"That may be true, but it's still my responsibility to look after Zelda!"

"No, it isn't! You're responsibility is, and has always been to keep Zelda's best interests at heart, and if you find her and take her back to Hyrule Castle, you're not doing that! Even if you did find her, she'd escape again within the day! You have to understand, Zelda doesn't want to be Queen, and she's an adult now. I know you helped her more than anyone when she was younger, but… it's time to say goodbye."

Impa stayed silent for a few minutes. Neither Zelda nor Link knew what she was going to say next, but when she spoke, it took both of them by surprise.

"Goodbye, Zelda." Impa said solemnly, before turning back to Link. "If Zelda is an adult, she can make her own choice. I'll call off the search."

Link gave a huge sigh of relief, and said, "Thank you," shaking Impa's hand.

Impa turned to walk out of the door, but she turned back to Link and said one last sentence.

"Oh, and Link? If you see Zelda touching anything wooden, tell her to watch out for splinters."

Zelda jumped so quickly she bumped her head on the table, but Impa just smiled at Link before walking out of his house, shutting the door behind her.

Zelda quickly crawled out from underneath the table, and before Link could ask if she was ok, she got to her feet and pulled him into another hug.

"Oh Link, thank you!"

Link just chuckled and held Zelda. "You're welcome."

"Now," Link asked, pulling out of the hug and looking Zelda in the eyes, "Are you ready for your first day here?"


	6. Chapter 6

Zelda was more excited than she'd ever been at Hyrule Castle. She didn't know why, but living with Link felt exciting for her, like she was doing something wild. She'd never been able to do anything for herself since she was born. Now, for the first time in her life, she was living normally, and while any other person would find it a downgrade, Zelda was overjoyed at the prospect of living a normal life.

She was soon reminded of something that everyone had to do, whether they were a Queen or a Hero, or a Hylian, when she felt the need to… powder her nose.

"Erm, Link, where's your bathroom?"

Link looked embarrassed and mumbled, "Er… actually, I don't have a bathroom."

Zelda's eyes went wide before Link started to chuckle and Zelda realised he was joking.

"I'm sorry for that, Zelda… it's the room over there."

Link pointed to the room opposite the bedroom, but before Zelda could go in, Link asked,

"By the way, today's the day when I normally go down to Lake Hylia and wash my clothes, if you have anything you want to be washed, I could do that too."

Zelda's face lit up. "Oh Link, that would be wonderful," she uttered, stepping back into the bedroom quickly, returning a second later with the dress she had slept in and her undergarments. Leaving them as a pile on the table, she quickly hurried into the bathroom, leaving Link to say,

"I'll just go and wash these now at the lake, I'll be back soon."

Zelda heard Link leaving, and as she waited for him to return, she couldn't stop thinking that she had forgotten something. Ignoring it, she kept smiling and wondered what she could do when Link got back. Maybe she could clean, or cook, anything to help him. She just wanted to be useful to him.

Although Zelda couldn't stop thinking that she'd forgotten something, she started thinking about how different it was at the castle. She preferred it here, as she would be spending time with a friend rather than servants, and she even began to think about how different the simple task of washing clothes would be. With a shudder, she began to remember what she'd forgotten as she recalled an average washing day at the castle.

"_Impa, I'm bored!"_

_An anxious Zelda sat on the throne with her bodyguard, Impa, as she let out the same mournful cry she did every day. Unfortunately, Impa gave the same answer that she did every day._

"_Read a book or play a game. Better yet, study up on your royal duties!"_

_Zelda gave a disgruntled sigh as she stayed in the throne, spending another day as Princess of Hyrule doing absolutely nothing. There was a knock at the door, and for a second, Zelda hoped it was Link, or maybe Malon. Heck, she'd be happy if Ruto turned up, anything was more interesting than being alone. Unfortunately, it was just another young male servant._

"_Excuse me princess, but your laundry is done. Would you like me to sort it in your room?"_

_Zelda rushed up to the servant and snatched the basket of laundry away from him quickly, blushing, before saying,_

"_That will not be necessary, thank you."_

_As Zelda ran back to her throne with her clothes, Impa found her behaviour strange._

"_Are you alright, princess? You seem awfully snappy today."_

_Zelda gave a small 'humph' before saying, "It's just the way I treat my clothes. I just can't stand the idea of somebody else… handling them. It's awfully embarrassing."_

_Impa looked at Zelda for a second and let out a small chuckle before muttering, "Whatever you say, princess."_

_Zelda scowled at Impa, then rushed to her royal chambers to sort her clothes._

As Zelda's flashback ended, she realised something. All her life, she'd been embarrassed by people seeing her private clothes, and now, Link was at the lake, washing them personally. Letting out a startled cry, Zelda ran out of Link's house and ran down to Lake Hylia, hoping that he hadn't arrived yet.

Meanwhile, Link had just sat down on the bank of Lake Hylia, and, dipping a basket into the lake, he scooped up a large amount of water and started to wash his and Zelda's clothes. Thinking back over the last day, he couldn't help but smile. He had always loved helping people, and Zelda was no exception. For Link, nothing made him feel better than selflessly helping people, because no matter if they thanked him or not, it always made him feel proud of himself.

Link had barely started washing when he heard panting and running behind him. Turning around, he saw Zelda herself running towards him, and he was a bit surprised to say the least.

"Zelda? What are you doing here?"

Zelda took one look at Link and let out a loud scream. Link had no idea what he was doing wrong, but Zelda quickly ran forwards to him and grabbed the bra he was washing and started to pull it back, causing a tug of war.

"Link, I've changed my mind, I'll wash my clothes myself!"

"Whoa, calm down Zelda, you can have them in a minute, I'm almost finished washing them."

"LINK!" Zelda screamed at him. "Give me back my clothes, NOW!"

Link was so shocked by Zelda's screams that he let go of her clothes, but Zelda soon realised her mistake. Having been grabbing and pulling, she hadn't noticed that she had accidentally taken a few sidesteps, and letting out one last scream, she plunged into the icy depths of Lake Hylia as Link let go.

Zelda's trouble didn't end there. Falling into the cold water, her dress swelled up with air, and, to Zelda's horror, when she opened her eyes underwater, her dress was floating on the water above her. This caused her to let out another scream, and she realised too late that she had just yelled out any air she had left in her body. Coughing wildly and trying to claw her way back to the river bank, she was running out of time. Feeling her energy sapping, she tried in vain to swim back to the water's surface, but she couldn't focus enough. Spluttering, blackness started to cloud her vision when she heard a splash, followed a few seconds later by the feeling of someone grabbing her arm and pulling her back up.

The next thing Zelda knew, she was on the bank of Lake Hylia, coughing up water and spluttering madly. As she got her vision back, she looked down at herself and saw that she was soaking wet, and only in her underwear. She would have screamed if she wasn't still madly coughing, but she soon felt Link putting his wet tunic around her. It was freezing and soaking, but at least it covered her up. As Zelda finally felt like she had recovered, she turned to face Link, who was also soaking and shivering, but he only cared about her wellbeing.

"Zelda," he choked out while coughing up some seaweed, "Are you alright?"

Zelda nodded, but continued shivering. Link raised one of his eyebrows and muttered, "Let's get you home…"

Zelda nodded again and tried to stand up, but Link didn't wait for her to finish as he scooped her up into his arms and started to carry her back to his house. Within a few minutes, Link had arrived back, and kicked open the door to his house before carrying Zelda into the bedroom and laying her softly down on the bed. She was barely awake as Link took his tunic off her gently and pulled a blanket off her body.

She hadn't moved much, but she felt exhausted, and Link knew she would, so he gently whispered, "I still need to wash my things, so I'll be gone for a little while. You just stay here and get some rest, ok?"

Link heard the softest of voices as Zelda whispered back, "Ok," followed shortly by, "Thank you, Link."

As she heard Link leaving, Zelda felt a strange sense of nostalgia. Back at Hyrule Castle as a youngster, she'd often been feeling ill, or even fallen in the moat on a few occasions, and directly afterwards she would be given the best care that money could buy. Expensive medicines, huge quilts and jumpers to keep her warm, and her personal doctor who was widely thought of as the best in Hyrule.

However, this time, she was lying in a small bed made for one, with a single blanket covering her, with nothing to keep her warm except the fire in the main room slowly spreading heat through the house. She was still only in her underwear, and she was still freezing, but as she compared the situation to how it would be at the castle, she smiled and felt happier.

She was soaking, freezing, half-naked, and still recovering from almost drowning, but she was in a friend's house, with a blanket that was slowly warming her up, and a person who wasn't paid to care for her, but still did, because he was her friend.

She wouldn't have it any other way.


	7. Chapter 7

Zelda woke up with a smile on her face, but that smile soon faded when she sat up. Her stomach ached as she groaned and held her hand against it, hoping it was just a passing pain, but when she tried to stand up, it got worse. As her stomach gave a large rumble, she felt violently sick and fell back down onto the bed again, breathing heavily. Clutching her stomach in agony, she knew that something was wrong. As she rolled onto her stomach, she told herself that she probably just caught a cold from falling in the lake. However, as she felt her stomach heaving, she soon realised it was worse than that. She tried to push herself up, but before she could even get to her hands and knees, she felt her stomach churning and she knew what was coming. She tried to take deep breaths, but they didn't help, and they couldn't stop her from throwing up, which she did a few seconds later.

Breathing even more heavily, Zelda opened her eyes slowly to see how bad it was. Letting out a small cry, Zelda saw that she had ruined the sheets on her bed. Praying that Link wouldn't find out, she groggily stood up, only to remember that she was still only in her underwear. Pulling on a dress slowly, Zelda grabbed the sheet off the bed and held the corners together. Slowly carrying it out of her bedroom door, she prayed that Link wasn't home, but he was. Sitting by the table, using a knife to carve a few words into a piece of wood, he looked up when Zelda walked in and asked her how she felt.

"Zelda, it's nice to see that you're up. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, the usual," said Zelda, trying to hide her heavy breathing and illness from Link.

"What's that?" asked Link, pointing to the sheet that Zelda was holding strangely.

"Oh… it's… laundry. I don't want to bother you with any more of mine though, so I'm just heading down to the lake to do it myself."

"That reminds me," said Link, blushing, "What is our current laundry arrangement?"

Zelda blushed too, remembered the disaster their morning had been. "I think we should wash our own clothes, but we can go to wash them at the same time. I'm sorry for this morning, I… get embarrassed when other people see… certain items of clothing-"

"No, it was my fault," Link interrupted, "It was inconsiderate of me not to ask you if you were comfortable with it. Anyway, what I washed this morning, I hung in your room. I apologize if it's cramped, but I usually hang my clothes outside, and I could tell that you wouldn't like that."

"Thank you, Link." Replied Zelda sincerely, only for her to feel her stomach clenching up again, so she swallowed painfully and said, "Well, I'd better get going."

Zelda staggered to the door, causing Link to raise his eyebrows at her, but she sent a warm smile at him in an effort to persuade him that she was ok. However, as soon as she was outside, she let out another groan as she shakily made her way to the lake in order to wash Link's sheet. She felt absolutely boiling, but somehow made her way to the edge of the lake without collapsing. However, the sun was beginning to set, and Zelda realised she would have to work fast to avoid Link's suspicion. Sitting down, Zelda paused, and wondered to herself why she wasn't being truthful with Link. Unable to answer herself, Zelda shook these thoughts out of her head and slowly dipped the sheet in the lake, hoping that it would be easy to clean.

Meanwhile, Link had just finished carving, and was beginning to wonder if Zelda was really alright. He had fallen sick from swimming in Lake Hylia before, and it wasn't an enjoyable experience. Link suddenly remembered something strange. That morning, he had washed two of Zelda's dresses, and one set of her 'undergarments'. When he saw Zelda leaving, she was wearing another one of her dresses and another set of her 'undergarments'. Altogether, they were the only clothes Zelda had, so when she said she was going to Lake Hylia to do laundry, what was she really doing?

Feeling more worried than suspicious, Link sighed as he grabbed his sword and left his cottage, hoping to find Zelda at Lake Hylia.

Zelda was currently scrubbing the sheet madly with a large leaf she had found nearby. She sighed in relief as she eventually pulled the sheet out of the water, and it looked clean enough. However, as soon as she picked up the sheet, she shuddered and dropped it again as she felt a familiar clenching of her stomach. Gasping loudly and trying to relax herself, Zelda leaned on her hands and knees and breathed heavily as she tried to stop herself from throwing up. It didn't work.

Zelda felt her stomach squeezing harder and harder as the pain forced tears to appear in the corner of her eyes. Letting out a small scream, Zelda gripped the grass as hard as she could before eventually throwing up. Crying softly, she was terrified for a second as she felt someone grabbing her hair and gently pulling it away from her face, before she caught a look at the person, and saw that it was Link.

Link calmly remained holding Zelda's hair back until she finished, and started breathing awkwardly and heavily.

"You didn't tell me you were sick, Zelda."

Link wasn't speaking in a harsh or angry tone, but it still made Zelda feel guilty.

"I… didn't want you to worry about me," replied Zelda, who was still breathing heavily.

"Don't worry about things like that, Zelda. I'm here to help." Link said soothingly as Zelda felt her stomach clenching up again and howled in pain.

Link knelt down further to her side, and tried to get her to focus.

"Zelda, can you tell me where the pain starts?"

Zelda tried to focus on what Link was asking her, but her stomach kept clenching up tightly every few seconds, so her answer was wracked with painful sobs.

"It starts… in my throat, then goes down to my stomach."

Zelda looked up at Link and saw his concerned and worried face. Out of all the thing's she'd seen him as; a swordsman, a hero, and a friend, she'd never once seen him as a doctor, but right now she hoped to the goddesses that he knew something that could make her better.

Another violent stomach contraction distracted her again as she leaned forwards to be sick and painfully howled through sobs, "Make it stop Link, please!"

Link was trying to figure out what was wrong with Zelda, but nothing came to his mind, until he remembered an incident a few years ago when he was swimming in the lake and he fell ill.

"Zelda, open your mouth."

Zelda nervously did as she was instructed as Link looked inside her mouth, and soon sighed with relief.

"Zelda, I can see what's wrong here. I think you swallowed some seaweed when you fell in the lake."

"Seaweed?" Zelda coughed back.

"Yes, it happened to me a long time ago and I couldn't stop throwing up. The seaweed of Lake Hylia is very salty and irritating, and it sticks to your skin," Link paused as his face became grim, "The good news is I know what the problem is, the bad news is… if you want me to fix it, it's going to hurt."

"Fix it Link, I don't care how, just fix it!" whispered Zelda, who was on the verge tears from pain again.

Link took a deep breath and slowly put two of his fingers into Zelda's mouth. He was careful not to move around too much, and he soon managed to grip the end of the long strand of seaweed, which, luckily for him, was only positioned near the back of Zelda's cheek. As Link slowly pulled it away, Zelda started to gag. At first it felt like Link was pulling her skin, but she soon wondered how she hadn't noticed the strange feeling in her throat that the seaweed was causing. Link slowly pull the seaweed harder, until eventually, he had pulled the end he was holding of it out of Zelda's mouth. Zelda was gagging and coughing, and the seaweed was irritating her throat, so eventually, she shouted, "Just pull the whole thing out, please!"

Link jumped slightly when Zelda screamed, but she calmed him down when she added, "I just want this to stop…"

Link nodded to Zelda and took a deep breath, before gripping the seaweed firmly and yanking it sharply, pulling it completely out of Zelda's body. Zelda gave a startled yell as the seaweed rubbed against her throat, and she gagged again, coughing violently, but when she looked up at Link, he was smiling, and holding a very long, very large, and very rough strand of seaweed.

"Don't worry Zelda, it's all over."

Zelda gasped and puffed, but a smile came onto her face as her stomach began to calm down.

"Link… thank you. I'm sorry I snapped at you…"

"Don't worry about it, you had the right to. You're the last person in the world who deserves to go through that. Come on, let's go home."

Zelda was still a bit shaky, but Link held her hand and guided her back to his house. The sun had set by now, and Link was sure that Zelda needed some rest. Stepping inside, Zelda seemed reluctant to let go of Link's hand, but when there was an awkward pause as they stood still, Zelda quickly retired to her room, wishing Link goodnight and thanking him once again for his help.

Crawling into bed (after replacing the sheet) Zelda thought about her day. She had fallen in a lake, almost drowned, swallowed a large string of seaweed, and spent the majority of the day while she was awake throwing up. But she had also spent time with Link.

It had been a good day.


	8. Chapter 8

Zelda woke up early the next morning and, remembering what a disaster yesterday had been, made sure that everything was ok before she got up. She didn't feel sick, her clothes were all clean, and she was wide awake. Slipping into one of her dresses, Zelda opened the door to the living room, where Link was also just getting up.

"Morning Zelda," he said, yawning, before straightening up and smiling mischievously. Zelda noticed his sly look and asked cheerfully,

"Link, what are you planning?"

"I know something we can do today," he said with a chuckle. "I'd like you to meet someone."

Zelda's face fell. "Meeting someone? But nobody is meant to know that I'm staying here! What if they tell someone about-"

Link interrupted to calm Zelda down. "Don't worry, she won't tell, I promise."

Zelda's eyes went wide as she heard the word 'she'.

"She? It's a girl? Where does she live?"

"She lives here, with me!"

Zelda felt herself becoming faint as she imagined Link living with another girl. She didn't know why, but a pang of jealousy rose inside her as she imagined someone else taking her place in Link's home, even though she'd only been there for a few days.

"She's been living with us? How much does she know about me?"

Link soon realised that Zelda was misunderstanding him as he let out a small chuckle and opened the front door. "Come on, let's go and see her now."

Zelda reluctantly followed Link out of the door, and round to the back of his house. Now that she was concentrating on it from the outside, she could see that Link's house was actually quite big, despite only having three rooms. As Zelda followed Link round the back, she saw that although it had walls built at the sides, she soon saw that instead of a wall, there was a large fence at the back. For a second, she wondered who Link would be forcing to live in such a strange area, before she finally realised who Link wanted to introduce her too. As Link jumped the fence and patted Epona, the horse spotted Zelda and wandered over to her.

"Zelda, Epona, I believe you've already met," said Link, as he held a carrot up to Epona's mouth as she slowly chewed a chunk off. Link smiled while Zelda watched Epona with interest. Link doubted she had seen many animals during her life at Hyrule Castle, so he handed Zelda a carrot. At first, Zelda looked bemused, before Link pointed back to Epona. Zelda nervously held the carrot up, and gave a small squeal when Epona's tongue touched her hand, but she managed to keep holding the carrot until Epona ate it. Zelda let off another squeal of delight as Epona suddenly stood up straight, and looked Zelda straight in the eyes. For a second, Zelda thought that Epona would bite her, but Epona simply let out a small snort, then leaned over to Zelda and licked her cheek.

Zelda's eyes went wide as she felt Epona's rough tongue moving over her face, and Link looked shocked, but luckily, Zelda simply pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped the drool and half-chewed carrot pieces off her face. Zelda gave Link a smile, while he sighed in relief that Zelda didn't make a fuss, and he even said to her,

"You know, that means she likes you."

Zelda giggled as she continued to clean her cheek. She had told herself numerous times that she would be polite to Link, and if that meant not being disgusted by a horse licking her face, then so be it. However, neither Link nor Zelda were prepared for what happened next. Epona made a crunching sound, whilst Zelda felt a gentle tugging on her hair. Looking down, Zelda screamed in shock as she saw that Epona was trying to eat her hair. Link quickly noticed this, and moved forwards, trying to ease Epona's jaws open, but they wouldn't budge as she continued chewing. Desperately fumbling for something in his tunic, Link tried to calm Zelda down as she screamed and pulled on her hair, but nothing seemed to work.

Suddenly, Zelda heard music. Soft music was coming from her left side, and she turned to see Link playing a slow song on his ocarina. Epona seemed to like the song, as she let go of Zelda's hair and wandered over to Link, who patted her and kept playing. Zelda tried to untangle her hair, but soon gave up and stopped to hear Link playing. As he finished, Epona nuzzled up to him, and Zelda had her mouth open in amazement.

"Link, that was beautiful! What song was that?"

"It's Epona's song. Malon taught it to me."

Zelda smiled in admiration for Link, before remembering that her hair had just been chewed by a horse.

"Link? I don't mean to fuss, but do you have a hairbrush?"

"I think so, I'll just fetch you one," replied Link, disappearing back round the house.

Zelda was left alone with Epona, and she didn't know what to do, so she nervously picked up a piece of carrot and held it in front of Epona, who sniffed it suspiciously, then bit it right out of Zelda's hand. Zelda giggled and patted Epona, just as Link returned.

"This is the only hairbrush I have, I hope it's ok," he said, handing it to Zelda. Zelda thanked Link before running through her hair with the brush, working through the larger tangles until her hair was smooth and straight again. Handing the hairbrush back to Link, she smiled and thanked him again, but Link was busy looking around the stable. With a sigh, he grabbed two large buckets and turned to Zelda, saying, "Epona's trough is nearly empty, we need to go and get her some more water. We can get it at the lake, let's go."

Link patted Epona and waved goodbye to her, while Zelda ran after him. As soon as she heard him pant, she insisted on taking one of the buckets and carrying it herself. As they arrived at the lake, Zelda slowed down, but Link kept going, crossing the bridge next to the Lake Hylia research lab, and stopping at an island. Zelda followed quickly behind him, and had caught up with him just as he dipped his bucket into the water.

"Why do you come out here to get water?"

Link answered Zelda's question by cupping his hands and scooping up some of the cold water to drink some. Zelda had never seen people drink like this, but Link smiled at her once he stopped drinking and said, "Try it."

Zelda cautiously kneeled at the water's edge and managed to get some water in her hands as she slowly tried some. Looking at the lake with a dumbfounded look on her face, Zelda was amazed. Despite being natural water in a salty lake, the water tasted pure. Taking another scoop, Zelda gulped down another mouthful of the cool water and felt refreshed.

"This," Link began, "is where the water from the Zora's domain comes into Lake Hylia. It's cold, natural, and pure. I even have a pipe running from here to the house."

"Wow," said Zelda, astounded, before suddenly feeling confused. "Wait, if you have access to this water at your house, why did we walk all the way here to get it?"

Link shrugged and muttered, "I always do it this way to get more exercise."

Zelda smiled and admired Link's fitness, but Link soon started walking in the opposite direction.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"We've got the water Zelda, come on, let's get back."

Zelda heaved her bucket out of the water and was surprised at how heavy it was now. Lugging it after Link, he soon noticed that she was struggling as he went back to help her. However, she was reluctant to stop trying to help him.

"Zelda, you're struggling. Here, I'll carry it."

"No Link, it's fine, I can manage."

"Zelda, it's no problem, you don't have to be polite."

"No, Link, I can do this!"

Link grabbed the bucket and tried to take it off Zelda, but she hung on stubbornly as they pulled it back and forth, spilling the water everywhere. After they'd stopped, Link frowned as he looked at the bucket.

"Now look what you've done, there's nearly no water left!"

"What I've done? You were the one pulling it."

"You should have let go!"

Even though they were both giggling while they were arguing, Zelda was annoyed enough to pick up her bucket and throw the rest of her water over Link. At first, she thought he would take it as a joke, but his face looked shocked enough to make her think she had made a mistake.

"Link, I'm sorry, but-"

Zelda was interrupted when Link grinned and emptied his entire bucket over Zelda, who was now completely soaked. Smirking, she grabbed Link by the arm and whispered, "You are so dead!"

Playfully wrestling with Link, Zelda accidentally pushed him too hard as he nearly fell off the bridge, but just managed to hold on. Gasping, he managed to hold on with one hand as he extended the other one to Zelda and spluttered, "Zelda, grab on!"

Zelda grabbed his hand, then immediately regretted it as he let out another small chuckle and said, "Got you!" before letting go, pulling them both off the bridge and into the lake. As Zelda landed with a splash, she didn't let go of Link's hand as he emerged from the water and pulled her along as he started to swim towards the shore.

Soon, they were both panting on the shores of Lake Hylia after clambering out of the water, and Link and Zelda had both collapsed on their backs, still laughing a little. As Zelda slowly turned onto her side to talk to Link, she was still grinning.

"That was more fun than I've ever had in all my 18 years in Hyrule Castle."

Link smiled and rolled onto his side to face Zelda, and began to speak.

"Well, I try to keep my guests entertained when-" Link suddenly stopped.

"What?" asked Zelda, but Link grinned again.

"You've got some seaweed on your nose."

Zelda blushed and began to turn away, but Link gently reached over and brushed the seaweed away, but when it was done, he left his hand on her face. Touching her gentle skin, Link looked into Zelda's eyes for a second as they lay together, while Zelda looked into his.

Then, they both closed their eyes and leaned forwards in the spur of the moment, waiting for their lips to meet.


	9. Chapter 9

"Ahem!"

Link jumped away from Zelda when he heard someone's voice. Turning around, he saw Ruto, standing waist-deep in water with her hands on her hips, with her eyebrow raised at Link. Zelda gasped and tried to cover her face, but Ruto had already seen her. As her mouth fell open, Ruto looked back from Zelda to Link and said, amazed, "Link, you found Zelda?"

Zelda scrambled a few steps backwards, but Link was already trying to calm Ruto down and explain things to her.

"Ruto, you have to promise you won't tell anyone that she's staying with me."

Ruto immediately raised her voice in disbelief, much to the dismay of Link and Zelda.

"She's staying with you?"

"Ruto, please keep your voice down!" commanded Link.

"Fine," whispered Ruto, "but how long is she staying with you?"

Link turned to Zelda, then back to Ruto and shrugged awkwardly.

"Is she staying for good?" Ruto asked with a giggle.

Link turned back to Zelda again, and as they looked at each other, they realised that they had never fully discussed Zelda's living arrangements. Link turned back to Ruto and said simply, "Maybe."

"Maybe? What do you mean?"

"Well, she can stay for good if she wants. We haven't really discussed it…"

Ruto saw the awkward expressions on both of their faces and sighed as she said, "I suppose I'd better leave you two to talk then. I won't tell anyone about you two, I promise."

Before Zelda or Link could respond, Ruto dove underwater again and swam back into Zora's Domain, leaving the confused two to stand awkwardly in silence for a few seconds, before Zelda muttered, "We should probably go and get Epona's water…"

Link agreed and quickly started walking back to get the buckets and fill them up with water again. As they walked back to Link's house, they stayed silent. They didn't even talk as Link filled Epona's trough with water. However, Link couldn't stand the awkward silence, so he made a suggestion to Zelda.

"Would you like to ride Epona?"

Zelda was taken aback by this idea. She'd been in horse-drawn carriages before, but she'd never actually ridden a live horse before. The more she thought about it, the more excited she got, before she finally answered, "Yes please."

Link smiled as he helped her onto Epona, while she nervously looked around. Zelda suddenly realised that although it didn't look like it, she was a lot higher off the ground on Epona. As she began to sweat, she could feel Link putting her feet into the stirrups as she began to panic at the idea of being in control of Epona. As Link gently asked her, "Are you ready?" she had already panicked enough to feel scared of riding Epona.

"Link, could you help me to ride her? I don't think I'm ready to do it by myself."

Link smiled and quickly got on Epona, sitting in front of Zelda.

"Are your feet still secure?" he asked, receiving a quick nod as his answer.

"Ok then, we're off!"

Link gently nudged Epona's side, and she knew what he was asking to do. Backing away from the fence, Epona took Zelda by surprise as she rushed at it and leapt over it with ease. Zelda instinctively wrapped her arms around Link to keep her safe, but to her relief, he didn't make a fuss about it.

As Epona picked up speed, Zelda grew more nervous, but Link stayed relaxed, which calmed down Zelda a little. After all, at least she was with someone who knew what they were doing. Zelda had felt herself calming down more, until Epona ran straight towards a small river, and Link didn't seem to try and stop her. At the last second, Epona jumped mightily through the air while Zelda squealed in fear and squeezed Link closer, before they landed on the other side, narrowly missing the water.

Link felt Zelda shaking and turned his head to reassure her that everything was ok. Smiling, he whispered, "Don't worry, everything's under control."

Zelda relaxed a little, until she heard Link's next sentence.

"Whoa, easy Epona!"

Link was joking, but Zelda didn't realise this, and genuinely thought that Epona was getting out of control.

"Steady Epona, slow down."

Nudging Epona with his feet, Link got Epona to speed up, unaware that Zelda had no idea that he was joking around.

"Epona! We're heading for Gerudo Valley!"

Zelda's eyes went wide as she realised that they were heading to a valley where the bridge had recently been broken. In one of her few days as Queen, one of the problems she faced was raising the money to repair it, and if she remembered correctly, she had never been able to solve that problem.

"Epona, we're heading for the bridge!" Link said in a mock-afraid voice. He didn't realise that Zelda was now terrified about what was going to happen to them.

The bridge was out, but Epona didn't slow down, only speed up as she ran towards one end of it. Zelda was sure that Link would try to stop her, but it didn't seem like he could. Letting out another small squeal, Zelda closed her eyes and waited for Epona to stop, but she didn't. Zelda felt Epona making a great jump, and she kept her eyes closed and held Link tighter. Risking it, she opened one of her eyes to see where they were, only to look down and see 100 feet of space between her, Epona and Link, and the icy depths of the raging river below. Zelda went pale and felt herself almost fainting as she let out a scream, only to suddenly jolt forwards as Epona managed to land safely on the other side of the bridge.

Turning back to face her, Link had been shocked by Zelda's scream, and was even more alarmed by her pale expression and heavy breathing.

"Zelda, whatever's the matter?"

"What do you mean!? We almost just died!"

"No we didn't, I had Epona under control! Didn't you know I was joking?"

Zelda stopped breathing heavily and gave a look of anger at Link.

"Don't joke like that! I thought you were serious!"

Link was shocked, but nodded. "Ok, but now we have a problem. How do we get back to the other side?"

Zelda's expression told Link that she didn't want to face another jump on Epona, so he quickly dismounted Epona and helped Zelda off. Jumping back onto Epona, Link said, "I'll just be a minute…" as he made Epona retreat, then charge, gathering speed, and make the jump again.

Dismounting Epona from the other side of the bridge, Link pulled out his hookshot and fired it at the other end of the bridge, pulling himself back to Zelda.

"So Zelda, how do you propose you get back?"

Zelda thought about this for a second. She definitely didn't want to make the jump on Epona, but she couldn't think of any other way to get back.

"I could hookshot across and carry you," Link suggested, but Zelda didn't like that idea either. It seemed she was stuck, until a mischievous smile came onto Link's face.

"I know how I can get you back to my house," he muttered, while Zelda began to notice his expression.

"Link, I know that look, don't do anything I'll hate!"

Link chuckled and walked towards Zelda before picking her up and carrying her to the end of the bridge. Zelda didn't know what he was planning, but she felt nervous when he asked, "Do you trust me?"

She gulped, but replied, "Yes."

Link smiled at her and whispered, "Then hold on," before jumping straight off the bridge with Zelda in his arms to the river below. On the way down, Zelda wriggled out of his arms, but immediately wrapped her arms around him and screamed as she fell. However, she heard Link shouting, "Don't worry," and when she nervously opened her eyes, she looked into his. He didn't seem nervous or afraid, and deep down, Zelda knew that he would never do anything to put her into real danger. Finally calming down, Zelda took a deep breath as they both splashed through the water, bobbing up again in a few seconds as Link took Zelda's hand and started to swim down the river back to Hyrule Field. Zelda was shocked, but relieved to be unhurt.

As Link told her to hold her breath as they both fell down a small waterfall, as she bobbed up, she only said one thing.

"This is the fourth time in two days I've been soaking wet…"

Link laughed and soon, they had made their way back to a river bank in Hyrule Field. Epona was waiting for them there, and although she gave a small moan about the extra weight they were both carrying while wet, she managed to jump over the river and make her way back to Link's cottage.

As Epona jumped the fence back into her stable, Link patted her and fed her another carrot while Zelda struggled to get off. Almost falling, she was caught by Link, who lifted her off Epona with ease and placed her gently on the ground as she blushed. As the two walked back to the front of Link's house, Zelda squeezed Link's hand.

"Thank you," she whispered as they stepped inside. The sun had already set, and Zelda and Link were both feeling rather sleepy.

"For what?" replied Link as he entered his house, took off his soaking wet hat and placing it next to the fire to dry.

"Just thank you," replied Zelda as she stepped into her room to go to bed. "Thank you for being you, Link."


	10. Chapter 10

Zelda woke up early and yawned as she stretched, before getting up slowly and getting changed. Walking out of her room, she saw that Link wasn't there, but he'd left a small note on the table. She picked it up and read through it carefully.

_Dear Zelda._

_I don't think I can stand eating fish for another few days, so I've gone to Kakariko Village to try and get us some other food. I'll be back in less than an hour, because I've taken Epona with me. Make yourself at home, I'll try to get back as soon as I can._

_Link_

Zelda sat down, still yawning, and tried to think of something to do. Spying one of Link's pen-knifes next to a small bit of wood, she decided to try to do some carving before Link got back.

Meanwhile, Link had just arrived outside Kakariko Village and tied up Epona near the entrance before walking towards a few shops. The background noise of the bustling town was only broken by the soft jingling of the rupees Link had in his wallet.

As Link passed by a shop, something caught his eye. Somebody had put up a 'missing' poster for Zelda. It looked as though it had been put up recently, but it had already been defaced and vandalized with crude comments about her. Sighing with disgust, Link ripped the poster from the wall and slung it into a nearby bin, unaware that he was being watched.

Behind a fence, two angry Hylians had noticed Link ripping down the poster, and one of them gave an angry snarl.

"Check out that freak in green. What does he think he's doing?"

"Maybe he's a supporter of the 'queen'," the second man replied, with his voice dripping with sarcasm as he said 'queen'.

"Well," responded the first man menacingly, "Maybe we should show him how we treat supporters of the queen."

After responding, the man picked up a small rock and threw it over the fence. It barely missed Link, but crashed into a wall, causing a small bang. Link turned around, but the men ducked and laughed. Link shrugged it off and stepped into one of the shops, and the men looked like they were finished, but as they stood up again, one of them had a strange memory.

"Hey, that guy in green, wasn't he the one who protected the queen a few nights ago outside here? He stopped us all from giving that corrupt cow what she deserved!"

"You know, I think you're right, and I think I saw him riding around on that stupid horse of his near the south of Hyrule Field. What do you say we pay him a little visit some time?"

The other man laughed and agreed, before they both remembered that Link had a horse.

"Wait, if that guy came here on a horse, maybe we should go see it before he does!"

The other man didn't have time to agree before his accomplice rushed towards the entrance of Kakariko Village to try and find Epona.

Meanwhile, Link had just bought some fruit, and found that he had a few rupees left over, so he decided to go to Hyrule Market to see if they had anything on offer. Starting to make his way back down to Epona, he had no idea that his two new enemies were already there. They didn't want to kill Epona, so they cut the rope that tied her to the Kakariko Village signpost and tried to get her to leave quickly.

"Go on horse, get outta here before that freak comes back!"

"Hey," shouted Link as he came to the entrance, "What are you two doing?"

Link's shout attracted the attention of a pair of guards, who entered the scene, but unfortunately, questioned the two bad guys before asking Link anything.

"This is our horse," one of the men said, "But this guy in green has been trying to steal it from us for ages!"

"Guards, they're lying, I've had Epona for years."

The guards didn't know who was telling the truth, so they quickly responded that whoever could prove that Epona was their's would get to keep her.

One of the men quickly pulled a carrot out of his pocket and tried to lure Epona over to him, but Link didn't look worried. Epona slowly walked towards the man, who was beginning to chuckle darkly, but Link responded by pulling out his ocarina and starting to play a familiar tune to the horse.

Epona looked back at Link, then the man with the carrot, before galloping towards the two men. The two men gave a small cheer, until Epona bit the carrot out of their hands and walked back towards Link, placing the carrot on the ground in front of him. Link stopped playing the ocarina and smiled, picking up the carrot and slowly feeding it to Epona, rubbing her mane as he fed her. The guards immediately recognised Epona as Link's, but as Link wished the guards a good day and rode onwards to Hyrule market, the two men grew angrier, and one of them started walking off towards Lake Hylia.

"Where are you going?" the other one asked, only to receive the answer in a scream.

"I'm gonna find that freak's house and attack him!"

Meanwhile…

Link had just arrived in Hyrule market, and although he knew he should spend his money wisely, he saw a jewellery stand and thought of Zelda. As he counted his rupees, he found that he had just enough to get her a small diamond bracelet. Hoping that she'd like it, he quickly bought it and hurried back to Epona to get back to Zelda and give her her present.

Zelda was still trying to carve a picture into the small piece of wood she had, but it was harder than it looked. Sighing, she tossed aside the useless piece of wood she'd started with and tried to do better on a different piece. She tried to carve a crude but visible smiling face into it, but when a loud banging started at the door, she dropped both the knife and the wood. Luckily, the knife fell straight onto the floor, but Zelda was still concerned over who was at the door. Peering through the keyhole, she saw someone staring back at her with vicious eyes, and Zelda had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming as she backed away.

"Aha! So you're in!" screamed the angry man through the door. He had only seen her blue eyes, and to the best of his knowledge, Link was the only one living in the house, and he also had blue eyes. Barging into the door a few more times, Zelda cowered in fear and ran to her room, where she tried to barricade herself inside.

The banging didn't stop, and Zelda heard a few violent cracks as the door began to give way. Suddenly, Zelda felt ashamed. Link had let her stay in his house, and she was letting it be ruined. Cautiously stepping out of her room, Zelda quickly grabbed one of Link's chairs and stood next to the almost-broken door, waiting for someone to come in. Holding the chair nervously over her head, Zelda waited, too nervous to hear what was happening outside.

Link had just arrived back home, and was greeted by the sight of someone trying to break into his house. Immediately fearing what would happen to Zelda, Link jumped off Epona and charged at the man, bowling him over onto the ground. When the man stood up, Link drew his sword angrily, but the man was in no mood to back down. Roaring, the man stood up and pulled a small knife from his pocket. Without bothering to use it, the man threw it violently at Link, who just managed to duck in time to feel it grazing his shoulder. Link stood up straight again, only to have to duck a barrage of punches, which Link responded to with a strong bash of his shield against the man's face.

The man fell to the ground, but before he could get up, he found Link's sword pointed towards his neck. For a second, he thought Link was going to kill him, before Link whispered,

"Leave now, and never come back!"

The man didn't need to be told twice as he scrambled up and ran. Link let out a sigh of relief as he led Epona back to the stables before looking at the damage on the door. Unlocking it, he slowly walked inside, hoping not to startle Zelda in case she had heard the fight.

Zelda heard the door opening slowly and gripped the chair tighter above her head. She wouldn't let anyone break into Link's house, but her fear grew as she heard the mystery man taking a few steps forwards. Taking a deep breath, Zelda pushed the door shut and brought down the chair on the man's head with a scream, noticing too late that it was Link himself.

As Link fell forwards onto the floor with a startled cry, Zelda realised what she had done and immediately kneeled down to his side, pushing him onto his back. He was conscious, but only just.

Link's eyes were open, but what he could see was blurred. Zelda was apologising for something, but Link couldn't make out many of the words. He felt himself breathing heavily, while blackness began to appear at the side of his vision. Suddenly, a huge scream from Zelda distracted him as she stared blankly at his waist. Using the last of his energy, Link craned his head and looked down to see the knife that Zelda had been using for woodcarving, now stuck in his side.

Link heard Zelda screaming again, then everything went black.

Link was unconscious.


	11. Chapter 11

Link opened his eyes, but didn't see anything, because there was nothing but him there. Looking around, Link craned his neck to see what was happening, but all around him there was just emptiness. Looking down at himself, he saw that he had no wounds whatsoever, and for a second, thought he was dead.

Suddenly, Link saw a tiny dot of green on the horizon. It grew and grew, until eventually, it reached Link and he stepped on it as solid ground. Walking forwards nervously, Link's fear grew as he saw nothing else, no signs of life or objects, until he heard a strangely familiar voice.

"Hey Link, what's up?"

Link spun around to see Saria, happy as ever, smiling at Link. Link was shocked to see her there, but relieved that someone he recognized was with him.

"Saria, what's going on? Where am I?"

"I'm not Saria. I'm friendship!"

Link raised his eyebrows and took a closer look at his surroundings. In the distance, he could see several familiar faces, but they all looked different somehow. Link shook his head and tried to concentrate, but nothing changed. Turning back to Saria, he asked,

"Well, 'friendship', do you know where we are?"

"Yep," replied Saria, nodding enthusiastically, but not continuing.

"Well… could you tell me?"

Saria thought for another second, then slowly nodded, but said nothing. Link waited for her to talk, and after a few more silent seconds, she said with a giggle, "I could, but that doesn't mean I will!"

Link opened his mouth to talk, but Saria let out another giggle and skipped away. Link sighed and tried to follow her, but when he noticed somebody else he knew, he ran towards them instead. Slowly approaching the large rocky figure, Link addressed another figure he recognised.

"Darunia?"

Darunia didn't answer, but smiled back at Link before shaking his head and replying, "Happiness."

"What?"

"I'm happiness, not Darunia. Here brother, give me a hug."

Before Link could respond, Darunia pulled him into a cheerful hug, crushing the Hylian tightly. Link was growing more and more confused, until he heard an official and important voice.

"You're wondering where we are, aren't you Link?"

Link pulled himself out of the bone-crushing hug and turned to face Impa. Link felt many questions rising, but Impa began to speak again.

"Before you say, I am not Impa. I am wisdom and knowledge. I believe you would like to know where you are, so I shall tell you. I believe that you are inside your subconscious mind Link, a place named Magicant. We are merely different sides of you."

Link's confusion grew, but he believed what Impa was saying, despite having a question.

"But if you're my emotions, why don't you look like me?"

"Our appearances were imagined by you, Link," answered Impa, who had been keeping her arms crossed. "Our appearances are based on the figures of your life. I have always been in a position of wisdom to you, whereas Darunia had always been a figure of happiness to you. Saria has always been your best friend."

Link tried to ask another question, but Impa already knew what he was going to say.

"You are here because you were knocked unconscious, and there is no way for you to get out until you regain consciousness. In other words, you will just have to wait. I would suggest talking to your emotions if you get bored, there are many more you haven't seen."

Link had another question, but sighed and realised that if Impa was representing his wisdom, her advice was the advice that deep down, he would give himself. Looking around, he noticed another figure in the distance and ran to meet it.

Slowing down, Link came across another Kokiri child. This one, however, looked a lot sadder than Saria. He was sitting down on the ground, looking across the deep landscape of Link's mind, taking a few seconds every so often to sigh loudly and look down at his feet. Link wondered who he was.

"I should have been nicer," said the figure with a sigh.

"I should have been kinder to the other Kokiri… I shouldn't have made Link leave… I should have been nicer to Saria…"

It was then that Link realised who the figure was. Link hadn't seen him for years, but he was sure that it was Mido. However, before Link could ask, the figure turned to him and muttered,

"Regret. I know you're going to ask me, so I'll tell you now, I'm regret."

The figure gave another loud sigh, but before Link could try to talk to him, he was interrupted by an angry scream. Turning around, Link caught sight of his arch nemesis and mortal enemy. One of his emotions had taken the appearance of Ganondorf, and charged straight at Link, barely giving him time to dodge.

Link jumped nimbly to the side and pulled out his sword, which he needed to use with perfect precision a moment later to shield himself from one of Ganondorf's heavy punches. Ganondorf gave another snarl and dived at Link, deflecting his sword with one arm and pulling Link to the floor with the other. Link struggled to get up, but Ganondorf quickly grabbed his leg and tried to flip him over. Link landed awkwardly on the ground, but quickly regained his composure and distracted Ganondorf with his boomerang. However, Ganondorf grabbed Link's boomerang angrily and snapped it in half, throwing the pieces violently at Link, who had to duck to avoid them.

Link could tell that Ganondorf represented his hatred and rage, but luckily, help was at hand. With a battle cry, Nabooru charged at Ganondorf and bowled him over, before turning to Link, winking, and muttering,

"I'm courage, pleased to meet you!"

Link figured that if he was the holder of the triforce of courage, then this emotion would obviously be stronger than any other, but just as he figured this out, he heard a wail. Turning around, he finally saw someone he'd been hoping to see here.

Walking slowly towards the heap of a girl, Link knelt down and pulled her hair out of her eyes. Zelda slowly looked up at him, but Link was surprised to see that she had been crying. Hoping that she didn't represent his sadness, Link sat down next to her and tried to think of something to say, but Zelda beat him to it.

"Why won't you admit I exist?"

Link was taken aback by what Zelda said, but tried to comfort her, patting her on the back.

"What are you talking about, I know you exist, Zelda."

"No, you just keep holding me in! You're lying to yourself!"

Link struggled to respond, as Zelda's words were confusing him, but he eventually spluttered out,

"Just who are you anyway?"

Zelda turned straight at Link and looked him in the eyes.

"You know who I am, you just don't want to say."

Link had no idea who Zelda was representing, but he hated seeing her crying, so he put his arm around her and tried to comfort her.

"Please don't cry, I'm sorry I don't… know you, but I'd like to. What's your name?"

Zelda softened when he placed his arm around her, but she glared at him when he asked about her name again.

"You won't let me tell you! You won't let me out!"

"Please, calm down! Can you at least give me a clue or something?"

Zelda continued to glare, but muttered a few words.

"Remember yesterday, at Lake Hylia?"

Link racked his brains and tried to remember. He remembered that he and Zelda had gone to fetch water, then they'd fallen in the lake, but when they came out…

Link's eyes went wide as he remembered that they had almost kissed. Looking back at Zelda, he shook his head in disbelief, but Zelda nodded.

"No… you can't be-"

"Link, just admit it."

"But this can't be happening!"

"Link, say it!"

Link gave a reluctant sigh as he held his head in his hands and whispered,

"Love…"

Link felt Zelda's figure hugging him as he finally admitted his feelings towards her, but he didn't react. He was too busy thinking about how terrible it was that he loved Zelda. She was the queen of Hyrule, while he was an unemployed Hylian with a sword. Link stared at his feet, thinking that there was no way Zelda would ever love him back, until a giant voice distracted him.

"Link? Link, can you hear me?"

Link looked around desperately as the land around him started to disappear. He turned back to Zelda, but she was already gone. The green land that had occupied his mind was fading fast, and as it completely vanished, Link felt himself falling. Trying to stay calm, Link took a deep breath and closed his eyes. With a thud, Link hit something. At first, he thought he'd landed from his fall, but as the feeling returned to his body, he could feel a floor beneath him. He felt the rub of a bandage against his head, and he felt a huge pain in his side. Groggily, he opened his eyes, and saw the real Zelda leaning over him with her tearful eyes staring into his sapphire ones.


	12. Chapter 12

"Link!? LINK!!"

Zelda desperately shouted Link's name as he fell into unconsciousness. Zelda tried to catch him as he fell, but she wasn't strong enough and he collapsed on the floor. Immediately diving down next to him, Zelda shook him roughly and tried to wake him, but it didn't work. Breathing heavily, she tried to calm down as she realised that she was the only one there who could help Link, but it didn't work. Taking more deep breaths, she prepared herself for the worst and looked closer at Link's head.

The chair had made a tough impact, and Link's blonde hair was quickly turning red with blood. Zelda whimpered as she saw what she had done to Link, and how badly he was injured. Her hands were already stained with his blood, and the bottom of her dress was covered in it. Frantically trying to help, Zelda rushed to the only cupboard Link had and searched for a first aid kit, but she couldn't find anything to help her. Growing more and more desperate, she looked down at her bloodstained dress, then quickly gripped the bottom of it and tried to rip a chunk off. The fabric didn't break, so Zelda tried harder and harder until finally, a large strip of it came off in her hands. Running back to Link, she tied the strip around his head wound, hoping that it would help him in some way.

Taking her deepest breath yet, Zelda forced herself to look down to Link's side, where he had been stabbed. Feeling her stomach clenching sickeningly, she gasped loudly and almost threw up as she saw how bad the wound was. Taking even more deep breaths, she slowly gripped the knife, took one more deep breath, then pulled it out quickly. As she heard the noise of her pulling it out, she felt queasy, but managed to keep calm until she had used more strands of her dress to cover the wound in Link's side. However, once she had seen the wound, she realised how serious the situation was. Left without proper treatment, Link could be permanently injured, or worse yet…

He could die.

Zelda broke down and cried loudly as she wished that Link would wake up, but she couldn't get rid of the guilt of hurting him, and the fact that he might not wake up. Frantically looking around quickly, she desperately searched Link's house in hope that she might find something that could help, but her efforts were in vain. As more tears ran down her face, she realised that she had to get help. It was for Link's own good.

Running to her room to put on the cloak she wore the night she ran away from the castle, Zelda ran out of Link's house and headed for the lake. She tripped and fell at one point, but got up again quickly and kept running. Luckily for her, Ruto was at the lake, and she soon noticed the frantic Zelda running towards her.

Ruto sent a friendly greeting, before noticing that Zelda was on the verge of tears, and covered in blood underneath the cloak.

"Hey Zelda, what's- Oh my goodness! What's happened?"

"Link's hurt," Zelda spluttered out, "Really badly hurt. He needs help!"

Ruto didn't need to be told twice, and for a moment, Zelda could see the fear in her eyes, before it changed to concern, and Ruto took off towards Link's house, leaving Zelda to follow closely behind her. Zelda had barely arrived back at Link's house when she heard Ruto screaming. Zelda tried to get her breath back, but Ruto turned to her and said, "What happened?"

Zelda panicked and tried to think of something to say, but she couldn't. Luckily, after a few seconds, Ruto said, "I'm going to go and get Saria, she knows more about injuries than me, can you stay here with Link?"

Zelda's face almost smiled as she realised that she could do what she was being asked.

"Why yes, of course," she replied as Ruto sped out of the door and rushed towards Kokiri forest. Zelda nervously sat down next to Link and waited for Ruto to return. Wanting to do something, Zelda ran into her bedroom and returned quickly with her pillow, which she put under Link's head. Keeping her hand on his head, Zelda slowly rubbed his hair and hoped that he would wake up soon, just so that she could talk to him. While the house fell silent, Zelda's urge to talk grew, until she started talking to Link, hoping that Ruto and Saria wouldn't come back while she was in the middle of talking.

"Link… please be alright. I mean, I know you've had worse injuries, and… I'm sorry. I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm still sorry. I thought you were someone else, and… you know the rest. I hope you wake up soon. I miss you already, and I've had a lot of fun these past few days… you helped me wash my clothes, you let me ride Epona… you took me in when nobody else would. Thank you Link… thank you."

Zelda leaned forwards and, glancing at the door to make sure nobody was coming, kissed Link on the forehead, hoping that somehow, he would feel it. Placing her head on his chest, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.

"Please wake up Link, please wake up."

Unfortunately, Link didn't move, and Zelda released him and went back to sitting next to him, running her fingers through his hair. A few minutes later, Ruto arrived with Saria, who was amazed to see that Zelda was there. Letting her mouth fall open, Saria stared at Zelda, before rushing over to Link with a bag that Zelda assumed was a makeshift first aid kit. She was right.

Saria removed the bloody pieces of Zelda's old dress from Link's wounds and immediately began to see how badly he had been injured. Letting out a large gasp when she saw his head wound, and a scream when she saw where he had been stabbed, Saria hastily dressed Link's injuries, before turning back to Zelda and asking the question that Zelda had been dreading.

"What happened to him?"

Zelda stuttered a few times, trying to come up with an answer, before spitting out, "I'd rather not talk about it until Link's awake."

Saria raised one of her eyebrows and eyed Zelda with suspicion, but chose not to question Zelda about it. Instead, she turned to Ruto and said, "We should try and find somebody who knows more about injuries than me. What about Nabooru?"

"She's been injured a few times at the Gerudo fortress, but I can't go and get her, I'd never survive that heat. If it hadn't been cloudy, I'd have boiled on the way to Kokiri forest! What about Malon? She treats horse's injuries, so she probably knows how to care for humans too."

Saria took a moment to think before muttering, "You go get Malon, I'll get Nabooru. Zelda, stay here."

Zelda perked up at the mention of her name, but quickly realised that she was once again being left behind with Link, not that she had a problem with it. Hoping that Saria, Malon and Nabooru wouldn't tell anyone where she was, Zelda went back to running her fingers through Link's hair. She thought about talking to him again, but realised that she had nothing more to say to him, so she just whispered,

"Wake up Link, please wake up!"

Ruto and Malon arrived back first, and Malon was astounded to see Zelda. Wasting no time, Malon rushed towards Link, but it appeared that she had been called to come as a friend rather than as a helper. Turning back towards Zelda, Malon let loose with questions.

"Zelda! What are you doing here? How long have you been here? Talon says you came to the ranch a few days ago!"

Zelda did her best to answer Malon's questions, but was having trouble stopping her answers from sounding gibberish. Taking a deep breath and relaxing herself, she answered calmly,

"You probably know I ran away from the castle, and Link found me and brought me here. He said I could stay here a while, and yes, I did see Talon a few days ago, but I don't think I was welcome at the ranch."

"Oh, Dad apologises for that. He was in a bad mood that day; one of our cows had died."

"He apologises? Does he know I'm here?"

"No, he told me to tell you if I ran into you that he's sorry."

Malon was interrupted as Saria ran back into the room, before pointing her guest, Nabooru, towards Link. Nabooru darted towards him, then scanned Link's wounds. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Nabooru spoke.

"Saria, you did a good job with the bandages, you've prevented the wounds from becoming any worse. Luckily, the head wound isn't bad, just a large bruise, but the stabbing…"

Nabooru's pause told everyone how serious the cut in Link's side was. Everyone stayed silent, until Zelda quietly asked,

"How long do you think it will be before he wakes up?"

Nabooru turned to Zelda and said, "A few hours," before realising who she was talking to. Looking shocked, Nabooru's eyes widened at the sight of Zelda as she asked many of the same questions Malon asked.

"What are you doing here? How long have you been here?"

Zelda didn't want to explain herself again, but Malon jumped in to answer Nabooru's question. After a few minutes, everyone there knew the situation that Zelda and Link were in, but one question remained.

"So Zelda," Nabooru asked, "What happened to Link?"

Zelda stayed silent and desperately tried to think of an answer, but Ruto spoke first.

"Don't bother asking her, she says she won't tell us until Link wakes up."

"Why not?" Asked Nabooru, angrier. "You didn't do this to Link yourself, did you Zelda?"

Zelda stayed silent, still frantically trying to find something to say, but her mind was blank.

"Did you do this to him? I swear, if you hurt Link, I'll hurt you!"

Zelda shuddered when she heard Nabooru's threat, but one noise distracted everyone in the room. Link gave a large groan and shook violently. Everyone fell silent, and Zelda moved forwards to Link, before kneeling before him and leaning over him. She then broke the silence by speaking softly,

"Link? Link, can you hear me?"

Groggily and slowly, Link opened his eyes, gazing his sapphire eyes into Zelda's tearful ones.


	13. Chapter 13

"Link, how do you feel?"

Zelda held Link's hand and squeezed it softly. She had almost whispered her question to Link, but the silence in the room made it sound much louder. Zelda nervously watched Link's eyes as he felt the bandage on his head, then looked down at the huge and messy wound in his side. Looking up with a grimace, Link muttered dryly,

"I've been better."

Zelda smiled as she heard Link's voice for the first time in hours, but Link was distracted when he sat up and noticed that the room was full of his friends. Looking round the room, Link gasped as he recognised Saria, Malon and Nabooru, none of which he had recently seen.

"What are you all doing here?"

Everyone answered at once, and Link regretted asking them all a question, but he caught parts of their answers and found out that Zelda had found Ruto, who fetched Saria, and then the two of them got Malon and Nabooru to come. That only left one question on everyone's mind.

"Well," began Malon, "What happened?"

"Yeah," spoke up Nabooru, eyeing Zelda suspiciously, "Zelda said she'd tell us what happened when you woke up."

Now everyone's eyes were on Zelda, even Link's, as he didn't remember what had happened. Zelda started to blush and nervously bit her lip, but when she looked to Link and saw his smiling, trusting face, she decided it was best to tell the truth. That didn't make her any less nervous though, as she saw the faces of the other girls, demanding an answer.

"Well, Link went out shopping in the morning, and I decided to try some woodcarving-"

"Oh for heaven's sake!" screamed Nabooru. "Did you do this to him or not?"

Zelda panicked. "No… well, sort of, but, not really, I-"

"Don't interrupt her," commanded Link, speaking to Nabooru before turning back to Zelda and saying timidly, "You were saying?"

Zelda took a deep breath and continued until she had told everyone how she had unfortunately mistaken Link for a scoundrel, and hit him, only for him to accidentally fall on a knife. Looking at her shoes, Zelda didn't dare face the people in the room, but the silence was killing her. Slowly looking up, she sighed in relief as she saw that Nabooru didn't seem angry, and Saria seemed to be calm. For a second, Zelda thought that her fear had been for nothing, before a fist slammed against her face and she went flying towards a wall before slamming into it and falling down onto the floor next to Link.

Everyone looked towards the fist, only to see that it was Malon. Zelda felt a huge pain in the front of her face as she tried to stand up again, shakily. She could vaguely hear the other people in the room screaming at each other, but she couldn't make out any words, except for 'why' and 'deserved it'. As she landed, she felt somebody wrapping their arms around her as they tried to hold her steady and see how badly she had been hit. Zelda couldn't make out anything, but when she saw what looked like Link's sapphire eyes looking over her with a concerned expression, she felt safe.

As Zelda felt herself regaining her senses, she could hear the screaming coming from inside the house. Everyone was arguing, except Link, who took a deep breath before yelling, "Stop!" at which point everyone calmed down.

"I know that everyone is a little stressed now, but there's nothing to worry about. I'm fine, and there's no reason for anyone to be angry."

"What about her?" demanded Malon, pointing at Zelda, who cowered slightly, but felt Link wrapping his arms around her tighter to comfort her.

Link gave a heavy sigh before turning towards Zelda and saying timidly,

"I'm terribly sorry to ask this, but would you please step outside while I talk with my friends?"

Zelda nodded and slowly got up, still a bit woozy from the punch, but managed to step outside calmly. Sighing, Zelda folded her arms to keep warm and decided to wander to the stable to check on Epona. Seeing that the horse was still awake, Zelda picked up a few stray thistles to feed to her, before she heard voices.

"I don't care what you think, she's not leaving!"

Perking up, Zelda looked up at her bedroom window, which she had left opened, and slowly walked towards it, hearing the conversation within.

"Link, honestly, are you prepared to let her stay with you, for free, for as long as she likes? What if she never leaves?"

There was a pause before Link replied, "She can stay for as long as she likes, and she knows it."

"Alright, fine, what do you think will be happening in a year's time if she's still living here?"

"I don't know, we can manage."

"We? Please, Link, you know as well as I do that the only reason we're making such a fuss is for your own good. If Zelda keeps living here, you know that she'll be taking up food, space, and money, none of which you can spare."

"I said we can manage! Why do you all hate Zelda so much all of a sudden?"

"Link, why are you being so uptight about this? You know she'll have to leave some time-"

"No she doesn't!"

There was a deathly silence as Link realised what he was saying, but he was quick to back himself up.

"Zelda doesn't have anywhere else to go, and you can't hold this against her, it was an accident!"

"Some accident! You could have died!"

"I don't care! Zelda says she likes it here, and frankly, I love-"

Zelda let out a small gasp as Link paused. Nobody said a word inside the house for a few seconds before Link finished shakily,

"-Having her here. I love having her here."

Everyone remained silent inside as Link's friends realised that Link wasn't just letting Zelda stay as a royal figure, but as one of his friends. Zelda leant closer to the window and heard Malon quietly saying, "Sorry…"

There was more silence, as Link had started blushing, and the others didn't know what to say, until Saria asked, "Should I go and Zelda to come back in."

Link silently nodded, but Zelda was now running back to the front door to make sure no one knew she was listening. She got there just before Saria opened the door and said quietly, "You can come back in now…"

Zelda stepped inside slowly. Link was still on the floor, and Zelda herself was trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone else, when she felt somebody tapping her on the shoulder. As she looked up, she saw an equally uncomfortable girl. Malon was twiddling her thumbs, and about to speak.

"Zelda… I'm sorry I overreacted a bit, I shouldn't have hit you."

Zelda smiled in relief and put out her hand. Malon shook it, still looking at her feet, when Zelda became distracted by a little noise.

Still on the floor, Link was trying to get up, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Slightly concerned, Zelda made her way over to Link and offered him a hand up. Link smiled and took it, but as soon as he stood up, he fell down again with a crash, clutching his left leg. However, it didn't seem to be that wound in his side above his left leg that was causing him pain, but the leg itself. As Zelda leant down to try and help him, Ruto spoke up.

"What's wrong with your leg?" she asked, also concerned about Link, who responded through gritted teeth.

"I don't know… it's gone all numb."

"Here, we'll help you up," said Nabooru quickly as she grabbed one of Link's arms and, along with Zelda, pulled him back to his feet. Unfortunately, he soon began to topple over again, but Nabooru was quick to support him, while Saria rechecked his leg.

"Link, how does it feel when I do this," asked Saria, squeezing his leg softly.

"Do what?" replied Link, making Saria begin to panic.

"Link, can you feel this?" she asked again, squeezing his leg harder.

"I… no, I can't. What's wrong?"

Saria gave a frightened look towards Zelda, then looked back up at Link.

"Link, if you're not feeling anything in your leg… when you fell on the knife, it might have cut a nerve," Saria saw Link's face turn horrified, so she quickly reassured him, "But it will heal in a few days."

Link stuttered as he looked down at his leg and tried to move it, but couldn't. Beginning to panic, he muttered, "How can I do things around here without my leg?"

Luckily, before he could panic too much, he was reminded of Zelda when he heard her soft voice.

"I could try and help you. After all, I'll be here…"

Link turned towards Zelda and let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you, Zelda."

Zelda blushed slightly and smiled back. "You're welcome."

There was another awkward silence in the room before Nabooru plainly asked, "Should we leave now?"

The rest of the girls murmured in agreement, while Link responded, "You can go, I'm fine now."

Link's company left, with a few murmurs of "Take care," or "Get well soon," echoing past the doorway as Link was left alone with Zelda. Yet another awkward silence filled the room before Zelda crouched down to Link and asked, "Do you want to go to bed?"

Link shyly nodded, as Zelda put her arms under Link's shoulder and helped him up. She wasn't strong, but he wasn't heavy, so she started to guide him towards her room.

"Zelda, I can't sleep in your room."

"Yes you can. Your leg needs all the rest it can get. I can sleep on the floor for a few days."

Link tried to argue, but Zelda gently opened the door and helped him onto the bed. Link tried to insist that she slept in the more comfortable place, but she shook her head.

"At least take a pillow," he suggested as she began to leave the room.

"Goodnight Link, sleep well," replied Zelda with a smile as she shut the door behind her.

Looking down at the floor, Zelda lay down and tried to get comfortable. Pulling a small rug over herself to keep warm, Zelda couldn't help but smile, despite the fact that the day had been disastrous, and she was sleeping on a cold, hard floor. Finally, she knew she would be doing something she dreamed of ever since she came to Link's house.

She would be helping him like he had helped her, and nothing could make her feel bad when she knew that finally, she could be useful to him.


	14. Chapter 14

Link woke up early, and for a second, he had forgotten that he was injured, before absentmindedly pushing himself out of bed and falling onto the floor. Groaning slightly, Link opened his eyes again and pulled himself back up onto the end of his bed. Feeling more alert, he remembered that he still had to make sure Zelda was happy, and was desperate not to end up forcing her to take care of him. Suddenly, he heard a large bang as Zelda burst into the room. Link was surprised that she was already awake, but even more surprised that her dress had a large scorch-mark, and she appeared to be a lot more awake and out of breath than he was.

"Link, I heard a noise. Are you alright?"

Link raised his eyebrows momentarily in surprise, but soon regained his composure and responded.

"Yes, I'm fine. What are you doing up so early?"

Zelda blushed and muttered something about breakfast, before helping Link up and escorting him out of his room, despite Link not asking for help. He was about to say something and ask why she was leading him out when he saw what she had done. Gasping slightly, Link looked around the room to see that everything had been cleaned furiously, and there was even a bowl full of fruit next to a steaming plate of fish. Wondering how Zelda found the time to do this, he turned back, but before he could ask her anything, she meekly said,

"Do you like it?"

Link was in too much awe to answer for a few seconds, before he found his voice and stammered out,

"I… I love it!"

Zelda blushed and smiled, but was soon asked more questions by Link.

"How did you find the time for all this? Did you do it all yourself?"

"I just woke up early Link. After all, I couldn't have you doing all of this yourself with a hurt leg."

Link looked down at his leg for a split second after being reminded of his injury, before forcing himself to look up with a smile and reply, "Thanks Zelda, I really appreciate this."

Zelda blushed even more and tried to suppress a giggle, but failed. Link, meanwhile, had started looking on the floor for something. Before Zelda had the chance to notice and ask what he was doing, he carefully stepped over to an old curtain rod, then hobbled over to where his old knife had been placed. While Zelda was still wondering what he was doing, Link started to whittle down the end of the rod for a few seconds, before he tapped it on the floor a few times, and then, having decided it was sturdy enough, used it as a makeshift crutch to get back across the room to the table. Now it was Zelda's turn to be impressed.

"Link, that was amazing!"

"Oh, it's nothing. I could never force you look after me for days."

Zelda's face fell slightly as she thought of the chance of helping Link slipping through her fingers. However, she was still eager to show him that she wanted to help. Sitting opposite him at the table, she quickly grabbed the knife and fork she had laid out and started to cut his food, only stopping when he called her name.

"Zelda, you don't have to do that, it's not like my arms are broken."

"But it's no trouble! I insist!"

Link gave Zelda a strange look, then decided not to interrupt her. However, after she had finished cutting up his food, she put some on the end of his fork and held it in front of his mouth. Link raised his eyebrow and tried to talk to her.

"Zelda, what are you doing?"

Zelda slowly realised what she was doing as she put down the fork and blushed. There was an awkward silence between the pair until Zelda sheepishly muttered, "I'll get you some water…"

Zelda was glad that Link couldn't see her blushing face as she walked to the sink and got Link a glass of water. Walking back to the table, she sat down again and looked sheepishly down at the floor. She desperately wanted to help him, but she knew that she was beginning to go too far. Absentmindedly, she swung her leg a little, accidentally poking Link with it. She didn't hurt him, but it startled him enough to make him choke on the water he was drinking and spill it. Even though Zelda knew she shouldn't try and be overly helpful, she couldn't help grabbing a napkin instinctively and dabbing at Link's tunic, startling him even more.

"Zelda, what are you doing? I'm not a child!"

Zelda paused and slowly sat back down again. Feeling humiliated with herself, she looked down at the floor to avoid making eye contact with Link. She had tried to be helpful, but she had failed. Zelda turned away from Link and stared harder at the floor. Willing herself not to cry, Zelda took deep breaths and tried to think happy thoughts, but one thought kept coming back into her mind.

"You can't help him, and you never will. You're useless."

Zelda tried to force herself not to cry, but as she closed her eyes, she heard herself sniffing and whimpering. Cursing herself for making this breakfast more awkward, Zelda opened her eyes for a second and noticed something.

No tears. No sniffing. Feeling strange, Zelda realised that she had heard someone crying, but it wasn't her. Letting her mouth fall open in shock, Zelda turned to see Link, with his face buried in his hands, weeping. Zelda was full of nerves. Link had seen her cry multiple times, but Zelda had never seen anything like this from him. Slowly swallowing her fears, Zelda pulled her chair up next to Link and put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it gently.

"Link, what's wrong?"

Link was shaking, but he anxiously raised his head just enough for Zelda to see the pained expression in his blue eyes. One of his hands slipped free, so Zelda clutched it softly, then squeezed it. Link's sobs appeared to slow down, but Zelda knew now how she could help. Wrapping her spare arm around him, Zelda pulled Link into a hug and held him tightly for a few minutes. The tears kept coming, but Zelda kept holding him. Rubbing her hand across his back, eventually Zelda heard the tears coming to a close, so she whispered to Link,

"What's the matter, Link?"

"It's…" Link began, interrupted by a short sob, "I feel useless Zelda. I'm the only hero in the whole of Hyrule who can't move his leg! How am I meant to look after you if I can't even walk?"

Zelda kept her arms wrapped around Link as she replied. "I know how you feel."

Although Link didn't say anything, the look in his eyes told Zelda he was wondering how.

"Link, I feel useless here. I can't help you, I keep hurting you, and you've given me so much. I really do know how you feel."

"Zelda, you're not use-"

"You're not useless either Link. Think about it. You took me in, gave me food, shelter, looked after me when I was sick, forgave me when I hurt you… you've done everything for me. What have I done for you? Nothing!"

The positions were reversed, as now Link was feeling better, while Zelda was beginning to cry. However, Link managed to stop her by comforting her.

"Zelda, you've done much more important things than that. You've kept me company, you've been my friend, Zelda-"

Link gently grabbed her chin and made her look at him.

"You've made me happier than I've ever been since I can remember. That's more important that food or shelter."

Zelda cracked a smile, but it soon fell.

"I just wish there was some way I could really help you…"

Link thought for a second, then sighed and asked Zelda a question.

"I was planning on going through Gerudo Desert later. I need to get to the desert colossus. I wasn't going to ask you because I was worried you'd get hurt, but… now that I think about it, I might need help. Would you like to come?"

Zelda's face immediately brightened up. "Oh, Link, I'd be delighted! When will we go?"

"I don't know. Now, if you're ready."

"Oh Link, this is so sweet of you, I'll go and get my cloak now!"

Link blushed as Zelda ran off to get ready. On the one hand, he was making her happy.

On the other hand, he really hoped she wouldn't get hurt…


	15. Chapter 15

Link hoisted a bag onto his shoulder and turned to Zelda, who was trying to do the same, but kept stumbling under the weight. Smiling, Link walked over to Zelda and hoisted her bag over his other arm. She blushed, but didn't stop him.

"Ready to go?"

Zelda nodded and pulled on her cloak. Link held the door open and ushered her out, making her blush again. Picking up the old wooden rod by the side of the door, Link used it to support his broken leg as he hobbled out quickly and caught up with Zelda.

"So, what should I be expecting?" asked Zelda nervously. She was excited about helping Link, but scared about venturing out into the desert.

"Well, it's pretty hot now, so it should be VERY hot there. Don't worry though, we've got plenty of water." Link replied, patting one of the bags to reassure Zelda. Zelda took a few deep breaths, then relaxed, reminding herself that she was here on this trip to help Link.

Link moved surprisingly fast for a person with an injured leg, and the pair soon found themselves at the bridge across Gerudo Valley. Luckily for the two, the nearby carpenters had started work on rebuilding the bridge, so Link didn't have to hookshot across. Instead, he nodded approvingly to the working carpenters, while Zelda moved quickly and silently across, holding her hood down carefully. Link was known at Gerudo Fortress, so Zelda feared that a long conversation could start, but Link simply nodded to the guards and asked for the gates to be opened. Zelda smiled when she saw that everything was going so smoothly, but her smile quickly dropped when she caught her first glimpse of the barren desert.

Fierce winds were blowing the sands up in a permanent sandstorm, while in every direction, all Zelda could see was sand. For a second, she considered asking to go back, before she shook the thought out of her mind. Walking bravely towards the storm alongside Link, she quickly learned to keep her head down as she was greeted with a face full of sand.

"Keep your body low," warned Link, "Otherwise you're always in danger. And watch out for quicksand!"

"What?" replied Zelda, missing the last bit due to the howling winds.

"Look out for quicksand!"

"Pardon?"

Link tried to answer again, but was interrupted by a scream from Zelda, who had slowly begun to sink into the patch of quicksand she had found. She soon tried to struggle free, but that made things worse. For a second, she wondered if she was in real trouble, before Link leaned forwards to speak to her and she saw his calm expression.

"Don't struggle," he said against the wind, "You'll just make things harder."

"But… how will I get out?" Zelda frantically replied.

Link leaned back to think for a second, then leaned forwards again, closer this time. Slipping one of his arms under the top of Zelda's legs, he put the other one behind her back and asked, "Ready?"

Zelda nervously nodded, then heard Link counting down to himself.

"Three, two, one, pull!"

Link tugged on Zelda and her legs gradually became free, until eventually, they plopped out of the sand completely, and Zelda gave a startled scream as she and Link collapsed onto the ground. For a second, Zelda wanted to stay like that, relaxing on the sands with Link, until she realised how hot the sands were. Both Zelda and Link stood up quickly, and Link smiled at Zelda before turning around and continuing the journey with Zelda quickly following after him.

They made progress for a few minutes, before Zelda nudged Link. Turning around, he couldn't make out what she was saying, but heard the word 'water', so he took a bottle out of one of his bags and handed it to her. He vaguely heard her shouting 'thanks' over the wind and kept walking. Zelda slowed down with the bottle and slowly opened the lid, making sure not to spill any. Cautiously lifting it to her lips, she sighed happily as she felt the water cooling her down. Wiping her mouth with her cloak afterwards, Zelda replaced the lid hurriedly and rushed after Link, handing him back the bottle. A few minutes later, Zelda heard Link shouting something, and wondered if something was wrong, but soon realised that he had a smile on his face. Squinting, Zelda realised that they had reached an old building.

Link ran inside, and Zelda soon followed, grateful to have found some shelter. With the howls of the wind behind them, Zelda smiled as she could hear Link's voice again.

"We're about halfway there. Are you ok?"

Zelda nodded and smiled, as Link continued.

"Well, we should probably get some rest here anyway, it's just going to get hotter."

Zelda nodded again and took off her cloak, which, as a black-coloured one, was boiling hot around her. Seeing Link struggling with one of his bags, she rushed forwards to help.

"Oh, I can take that,"

"Don't worry, I can manage."

"Link," Zelda smirked, "It's just putting a bag on a floor. You trust me to do that, don't you?"

Link let out a small chuckle and replied, "I suppose so," handing Zelda the bag.

Zelda smiled back, until she realised how heavy the bag was. Feeling astounded that Link could carry two of them at a time, she tried to hold on, but gasped as her fingers slipped and the bag fell on the floor. At first, she didn't think anything had gone too wrong, until the bag landed, making a loud crashing noise, and sending water leaking out onto the floor.

Zelda gasped and raised a hand over her mouth, while Link ducked down and quickly opened the bag. Gasping slightly as he cut his hand on a piece of glass, Link withdrew his hand as the bag fell down around the 3 broken bottles, and one that was still intact. Zelda tried to apologise, but Link spoke first.

"Zelda, the water's seeping into the ground, drink as much as you can!"

Zelda obeyed Link quickly and kneeled on the ground, scooping up water and drinking it. At first, Link watched to make sure that Zelda was doing it, then he kneeled next to her and started drinking too. However, it was only a few seconds before the water escaped into the ground for good, and there was only one bottle left. Zelda turned nervously to Link, but he knew what she was going to say and shook his head, smiling.

"Don't worry about it, I shouldn't have made you hold something like that."

"But-"

"I said don't worry, besides, we still have a full bottle left. That's enough to get us there."

Zelda paused, but Link was already back on his feet, propping himself up with the rod and picking up the last bottle of water. Zelda looked doubtful at leaving again, but Link's smile reassured her. Still feeling a little nervous, Zelda stood up, pulled her cloak back on, and left after Link.

Bracing herself for the sands rushing in her face, Zelda hunched over, but didn't hear the howling winds. Risking lifting her hood and looking around, Zelda was surprised to see that the storm had subsided for now, but Link didn't seem as happy about it as Zelda was, who rushed over to him.

"Link, isn't this great? We'll get there quicker now!"

"It's not that great. If the storm stops, it makes it even hotter around here. Nothing in between us and the sun now."

Zelda wondered how that made sense, but quickly realised that Link was right as her black cloak started to boil around her. Every step became pained, but when Zelda risked pulling her hood down, she realised that it was more painful that keeping it up. Her walk became a stagger, and she wondered how Link had ever managed to do this before. The back of her neck was starting to burn, and she slowed down drastically, but Link noticed.

Silently offering her the water, Zelda nodded and mouthed 'Thank you', before opening it and gulping down the sweet, cold water. When she stopped, she saw that she had almost drunk all of it, but Link didn't seem to matter. Sheepishly handing it back to Link, he looked back at her for a second before opening the bottle again dipping his hand in the water, and holding it against her forehead.

At first, Zelda was curious what Link was doing, but felt so much better that she didn't care. Letting out a large sigh of relief, she smiled as Link rubbed the cold water on the back of her neck. For a second, she was going to say, "Don't stop," but she realised what it would sound like and blushed. Link didn't know that she was blushing, and merely thought that her cheeks for hot, so he rubbed some water on them too.

Soon, the water was gone, and Zelda was feeling refreshed. Link put the empty bottle away and murmured, "You looked like you needed that," before turning and resuming the journey, with Zelda following closely behind him.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the heat to catch up with Zelda again. Whatever she had drunk was already working it's way out of her body as sweat. Breathing heavily, Zelda asked Link how much longer it would be before they arrived, but Link just smiled and pointed ahead. Zelda squinted groggily, still feeling the heat, but vaguely recognised a giant building as the Spirit Temple. Breathing even more heavily, Zelda took a quick look around to see the desert colossus, while resting her hand on Link's shoulder.

Then, she fainted in his arms.


	16. Chapter 16

Zelda opened her eyes very slowly. She couldn't focus on what she was watching, and the world around her seemed blurry. Her head began to hurt, and she gave a small moan as she closed her eyes again. Barely remembering what was going on, she slowly turned her head to her other side, until she realised she was pressing it against something. Keeping still, she felt as the object against her head moved in and out. Staying quiet, Zelda soon realised it was breathing, and gradually, she began to become aware of a strong arm under her back, and another one under her legs.

Still feeling too exhausted to speak or move, Zelda forced herself to open her eyes for a second, just to check that she was ok. The moment she saw Link's green tunic in front of her though, she knew she was fine. Relaxing, she closed her eyes again and started to smile as she realised how comfortable she was in Link's arms.

A few seconds later, she felt herself being put down somewhere. The cloak pushed up against her back and she began to sweat, but when she absentmindedly moved her hand and it touched the sand, she immediately realised how hotter it was as she drew her hand back with a small gasp. Breathing in slowly, Zelda was almost snapped out of her trance by a small explosion. Opening her eyes, she just managed to turn her head in time to see a few pieces of rock scattering. Feeling calmer, she realised that it had just been Link using a bomb to blow up a rock. Before she could regain any feeling of energy she had, she heard Link's footsteps coming back and soon felt his arms picking her up again.

Zelda kept still, but soon felt the temperature change. Suddenly, it was cooler and she felt herself relaxing even more. When Link had carried her for a few more minutes, she heard his footsteps stop as he began to lay her down. Feeling cold water rushing up around her, Zelda opened her eyes to find herself being placed in a pool of water, which seemed to revive her energy completely.

"Link?" she said softly.

Link nearly dropped her in surprise when she talked, but regained his composure and continued to lay her gently into the shallow water as he replied.

"Zelda, I'm so glad you're awake."

"Thanks Link," Zelda said through a smile, sitting up. "Where are we?"

Link began to smile too. "A Great Fairy's fountain."

Before Link could continue, there was a loud bang as a huge fairy appeared in a puff of smoke. Zelda had never seen anything like this before, and nervously pushed shuffled backwards in the shallow water. Meanwhile, Link removed his cap and bowed his head in respect, and when Zelda noticed this, she quickly bowed too.

"Travellers? What are you doing here?"

Link kept his head bowed and his eyes closed as he replied, "You told me that I should return if battle had made me weary."

The huge fairy took a look at Link to make sure that she had recognised him correctly, and began to smile.

"Hero of Time? What can I do to assist you?"

"I have been injured in my leg," muttered Link, pointing at the rod he was using to assist his stance, "And I would be delighted if you would be so kind as to tell me if you can help me recover."

The Great Fairy took a long look at Link's leg, while he waited patiently, looking back to check that Zelda was ok. She was fine, but very shocked. She had only ever heard about Great Fairies through Hylian legends, and had no idea that they had ever existed. She especially wasn't expecting to ever meet one face to face, and she found herself completely speechless.

Eventually, the Great Fairy looked back up and stated, "I think I'll be able to heal it. Hold on one second," before holding her arms up into the air. For a second, Zelda thought nothing was happening, until a ball of energy appeared in between the fairy's hands. The hands quickly pointed at Link, and the ball turned into a beam as it shot into his leg. Link winced and gritted his teeth, but the beam soon ended, leaving Link to wiggle his leg around a little to check if it was healed. Apparently, it was.

"Thank you Great Fairy," spoke Link, bowing again, "And I have one more favour to ask."

The fairy raised an eyebrow, but listened.

"We have a return trip through the desert to make it through, so may we please fill a bottle with the water here?"

The fairy nodded quickly and waited for Link to say 'Thank you' before twirling around in the air and giggling as she disappeared. Zelda couldn't believe what she'd just seen, but Link didn't seem in so much awe. Quickly filling his last bottle with water, Link offered Zelda a hand up as he started to lead her out, oblivious to her amazement. Eventually, she managed to stutter out,

"Link, that was amazing! You know Great Fairies?"

"I met a few on my adventure. Have I never mentioned that?"

"No! This is an amazing discovery! Do other people know?"

"A few, but we don't talk about it. They don't like to be disturbed."

Zelda caught Link's gist and reminded herself to never speak of the fairies to anyone else. However, she was distracted as they got to the entrance of the cave, the wind had worked up again, and boiling sand was flying around in the air.

"We're going back already?"

Link flashed Zelda a cheeky grin and muttered, "It won't take us as long as it did last time, trust me."

Zelda trusted Link, but still felt uneasy. "Why won't it?"

"I can run this time."

Zelda didn't want Link to look her in the face when he heard her answer, so she began to look at the ground. "Link… you do realise I can't run as fast as you, don't you?"

Despite not looking up, she could feel Link's gaze landing on her.

"How fast can you run?"

"I don't know… I've never really had to run…"

Link's mischievous grin returned, and although it settled Zelda, it also made her suspicious.

"Link, what are you planning?"

"Do you want to get back soon?"

"…"

"Do you?"

"Yes, but-"

It was too late. Link had already picked her up and started to run.

"Link, put me down!"

Link ignored her and kept running. Zelda pulled her hood over her head to stop sand from blowing into her, and looked at the ground, only to let out a startled scream as she saw how quickly they were passing it. She had never seen Link running this fast.

"Link, slow down!"

Link ignored her again and started running even faster. Zelda didn't know why, but Link seemed desperate for them to get back. Either that, or he was seeing if his leg was really healed. Zelda kept quiet for a few minutes, then looked up. Link's face was red and he was running out of breath, but he kept running as fast as he could.

"Link, you're going to exhaust yourself, slow down, please!"

Link disregarded Zelda's words as he sped up again, running almost as fast as Epona's gallop.

"Link, stop it!"

Zelda began to move her arms and legs in an attempt to get Link to slow down, but in the process, she ended up kicking him in the back of the leg. Link stumbled and let out a shocked cry as he tripped and fell onto the ground, sending him and Zelda rolling over a few times. Zelda felt her back hitting something hard as she and Link collided with it, and as she turned around, she saw that they had already made it back to the desert ruins.

"Zelda, are you ok?"

"Yes… Link, how did we make it this far? Surely you can't run that fast?"

Looking back, Zelda saw that Link wasn't just out of breath; he was winded and his face was red.

"I can run faster when I'm motivated. Come on, let's get inside."

Link hoped that once they were inside, Zelda would stop asking questions, but she didn't.

"Link, you're exhausting yourself, why are you running so fast?"

Unfortunately for Zelda, Link was too out of breath to answer as he took in a few deep breaths and slowly took out the bottle of water, drinking a tiny amount of it to make sure there was a lot left in case Zelda needed any. Eventually, Link replied through panting,

"I told you, I'm motivated."

"With dehydrating yourself? What's your motivation?"

Link looked at Zelda's expression and saw genuine concern, so he decided to just be honest.

…

"_Zelda? Zelda!"_

_Zelda had felt too much heat, and stood still for a second before collapsing._

"_Zelda!!!"_

_Link rushed forwards and caught her before she hit the ground, but she was already unconscious. Link shook her gently a few times before taking her cloak off and laying her down on it. Taking off his tunic, he laid it over her in an attempt to avoid her skin from getting burnt. Shaking her again, Link began to worry._

"_Zelda! Zelda, wake up!"_

_His worry becoming a panic, Link cursed himself for bringing Zelda with him and desperately looked around for anything that could possibly help him. Seeing nothing but sand, Link shook Zelda harder and held her hand as tears began to form in his eyes._

"_Zelda, please wake up! Please!"_

_Link's mind was assuming the worst. What if Zelda was really hurt? They were out of water, and Link couldn't heal her. What if she was seriously injured? What if she was…_

"_Zelda, wake up!!!"_

_Link found himself shouting as he tried to calm himself down, but couldn't get rid of the idea that she could be hurt. It was all his fault, he had brought her here, he had led her through unbearable heat, he was to blame for the death of the woman he loved._

"_Zelda…" Link began, too nervous to shout, "Please don't die. I… I love you…"_

_For a second, Link expected his words to have some sort of magical effect on Zelda, but they didn't, and he began to become more distressed._

_A tear fell from Link's eye and landed on Zelda's hand. There was silence for a second, before Zelda let out a small moan. Link didn't know whether she was in pain or comfortable, but he knew that she was still alive. Picking her up, he decided to carry her to the Great Fairy as quickly as he could._

…

"You… kind of freaked me out earlier."

Zelda didn't realise what Link meant at first and was offended. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"When you fainted. It really freaked me out. For a few seconds, I thought you were…"

Link didn't have to continue. Zelda realised how much she had worried him and felt guilty. Moving next to him, she put her hand on his shoulder and muttered, "Sorry…"

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have brought you here, it's too dangerous."

"Don't start this again," Zelda said through a small smile as Link appeared to have finally got his breath back.

"Well," began Link, "If we can't run, and I can't carry you, how are we going to get back?"

Zelda took a minute to think, before replying, "Why don't we wait until it's late, then it will be colder?"

Link was about to reject her idea, when he began to consider it. From his experience, it was never too cold in the desert at night, and it would certainly be easier to travel through.

"Ok, let's do that."

Zelda was surprised that Link had accepted her idea, but before she could talk about it, Link took off his tunic and began to lie on it.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a few hours until night falls, and we'll be travelling through it. We should probably get some sleep now."

Zelda silently nodded and took off her cloak before beginning to lie on it. When she opened her eyes, Link was already asleep. She smiled; he really had exhausted himself getting her here quickly. The last thing she recalled thinking before drifting off was how she hoped that the desert would be more forgiving at night.


	17. Chapter 17

Zelda woke up after what felt like just a few minutes, but in reality was a couple of hours. The storm outside had died down and the land was eerily quiet. Looking over to Link, she saw that he was still asleep, and she couldn't help but watch him for a second as he lay so peacefully on the ground, gently breathing.

However, the howl of a desert animal startled Zelda enough to make her want to wake up Link, as she shook him violently until he opened his eyes. Sitting up groggily, Link was immediately asked by Zelda, "What time do you think it is?"

Peering outside, Link muttered back, "Late evening, 8 or 9." Standing up, Link offered Zelda a hand and pulled her to her feet too before asking, "Do you want to get going?"

Zelda nodded and braced herself for a cold night as she followed Link outside, but amazingly, it was still hot. Putting her cloak on again in case the temperature dropped, Zelda had to run to catch up with Link, who was walking quickly in order to get through the desert in as little time as possible.

"Link, is it meant to be this hot?" said Zelda, gasping loudly.

"No… it was a good idea to wait, Zelda, a really good idea."

At first, Zelda thought Link was being sarcastic and she looked at her feet as she walked, blushing, before he continued.

"If we'd gone out again in daylight, it would have been even hotter. It wouldn't surprise me if Lake Hylia had evaporated."

Zelda looked up again as she realised Link was complimenting her idea and she giggled quietly before taking a few more large strolls to keep up with Link. Link kept silent as he walked on, and for a few minutes, Zelda tried to think of something to start a conversation, but couldn't. More minutes passed in silence, until eventually, after about half an hour, Link said one word.

"Water?"

Zelda looked up as Link offered her the bottle. Saying nothing, she nodded and took it before gulping down some of the cold, fresh water. Feeling much more refreshed, she was happy to see that she had left a few mouthfuls for Link. Handing the bottle back, Link decided to finish it, but when he was done, he heard a shocked scream and turned around to see Zelda, half-sunk into the ground, but smiling.

"Quicksand?"

"Yes…" Zelda replied sheepishly, as Link pulled her out again. However, as Zelda had been terrified the first time this had happened, Link wondered why she was still smiling now.

"Why are you smiling?" asked Link, beginning to smile too.

"We must be getting close to Gerudo Fortress," Zelda replied, "We hadn't got far into the desert when I got stuck in quicksand the first time."

Sure enough, a few minutes had passed before the gate to Gerudo Fortress came into view, and Zelda felt an immense sense of relief. However, when they actually came to the gate, they found it was closed, and while Zelda was silent, Link took a few minutes to look around, before finally spotting a hookshot target.

"Grab on," he muttered, offering Zelda his hand. When she held it for a second, she blushed and hoped he wouldn't notice, but she soon felt Link's hand tightening on her's strongly as he fired the hookshot and they were both pulled above the gate. As Link looked back to check that Zelda was ok, he saw her breathing heavily and looking down. Link could guess that she wasn't a huge fan of heights. Swinging the hookshot back and forth a little, Link managed to swing over to the huge gate itself and land on it, before pulling Zelda up behind him and looking down the other side.

"Zelda, are you alright?"

Zelda was taking deep breaths and trying not to look down, sitting quietly on the edge of the gate. She nodded, but stayed silent apart from her heavy breathing.

"I think we can jump down, it's not too far." Link continued, but when he heard Zelda gasp, he turned back to her and saw her eyes going wide.

"Link, I really don't want to jump off this thing…"

"Zelda, we won't get hurt-"

"Link, please, I don't want to do it!"

Zelda was taking quicker breaths, but looked a lot more panicked than normal so Link tried to calm her down.

"I won't make you jump… I'll just have to think of another way to get you down."

For the next few minutes, Link sat silently on the gate, looking down, until eventually, he gave up and turned back to Zelda. "Any ideas?"

Zelda shook her head and remained silent, still scared, but beginning to calm down.

"Well, it looks like we'll be stuck up here for a while then, I'll keep thinking."

There was a long silence as Link tried to find a way down for Zelda, but couldn't. For a few minutes, Zelda gradually got more comfortable up on the gate, swinging her legs down over one side. After a few more minutes, Link gave up and sat next to her. Zelda tried to think of something to say, but Link spoke first.

"I didn't know you were scared of heights. If I had, I never would have rode Epona over here with you a few nights ago."

"That's ok, there was water at the bottom of that fall. This is just… hard ground…"

Link gave off a sigh and leaned backwards. For a second, he shocked Zelda as she thought he'd fallen off, until she saw that he was leaning off the gate with his back against it, holding on with his legs.

"What are you doing?"

"Just stretching," replied Link playfully. Zelda grinned and muttered back, "Don't show off."

"I'm not, I'm just stretching."

For a second, Zelda believed him until he unhooked one of his feet from the gate and began to wiggle it, hanging onto the gate with one leg.

"That's nothing special, even I could do that."

"True," replied Link, pulling himself up again, "But I wouldn't if I were you."

"Oh really?" began Zelda, wondering if Link was belittling her. "And why not?" she added, before leaning backwards herself, until she felt Link's hand grasping her hand and pulling her back up.

"Because," Link explained through a chuckle, "I'm wearing a tunic, but you're just wearing a cloak and a dress."

Zelda blushed as she remembered that if she leaned back, she might end up embarrassing herself. Feeling more embarrassed when she realised she was making Link stay on a gate with her, she put on a brave face and said, "I'm being immature, we should just jump down."

Link raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Positive."

Link believed Zelda, but could see that she was still a little bit afraid. Jumping down before Zelda could stop him, Link rolled across the ground to avoid hurting himself, then stood up and walked back to the bottom of the gate.

"Jump, I'll catch you!"

Zelda grimaced, not wanting to disrespect Link, but not wanting to jump either. Staying silent for a few seconds, she shifted nervously and tried to think of an excuse not to jump.

"Zelda, relax. I'll catch you, I swear."

Zelda still felt nervous, but trusted Link enough to force herself to jump. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself off the gate and anxiously waited as she felt herself falling through the air, until she felt herself landing roughly in two strong arms. She barely had time to open her eyes before Link gently dropped her onto her feet and whispered, "Well done."

Link and Zelda resumed their walk back to his house, but Zelda still felt embarrassed for making him wait. However, she was distracted when she was reminded of how hot it still was, and how they were out of water. Then, when she saw the valley, she got an idea.

Running ahead of Link, who wondered what she was doing and soon chased after her, Zelda grinned as she approached the deep gorge. Feeling her temperature rise as she ran, she soon found herself near the edge, and recalled how cold the water rushing through the river would be. She heard Link shouting something, but she couldn't hear him until she took a deep breath and jumped off the edge.

When she opened her eyes, she immediately realised her mistake. Link had been right; it had been a hot day. So hot in fact, that the river had almost completely dried up. Panicking and beginning to scream, Zelda heard a hookshot firing above her, but knew that Link couldn't catch up with her. As she got closer and closer to the bottom, she felt terror she had never known before. Life around her seemed to slow down, but she could see nothing to help her. All that remained of the rushing, deep river was a few puddles and areas of soggy mud. Nothing that could break her fall.

Suddenly, she felt a hand gripping her arm tightly. Looking up, she saw that Link had fired the hookshot at the other end of the gorge, but was using it as a chain to swing across and grab her.

"Zelda, grab me!"

Link's words were fast, but life still seemed to be slowing down for Zelda, and she found just enough time to pull herself up and wrap her arms around Link's front, hanging off his back. She soon saw why, as the hookshot was not meant to be used as a chain, and they were about to smash into the rocky side of the valley.

Life sped up for Zelda again as she saw the approaching rock, but all she could do was close her eyes and hug Link as hard as she could, hoping that they would be alright.

"Brace yourself," Link shouted, moments before he gritted his teeth and prepared for the impact.

...

Zelda opened her eyes slowly. Holding Link from behind, she was unharmed, but feared the worst. Link was still facing the rocky cliff, with one hand dangling and one hand gripping the hookshot. Zelda stayed silent for a few seconds, hoping that he would say something, but he didn't.

"Link?"

Zelda could only manage to whisper in fear as she felt a drop of blood splash onto her left hand.

"Link, say something!"

There was another second of silence, which felt like an eternity to Zelda, but eventually, she heard Link breathing out, before taking in some deep breaths and replying.

"Zelda, are you alright?"

Zelda breathed an enormous sigh of relief and hugged Link as hard as she could.

"Link, you saved me!"

Zelda felt Link press a button on the hookshot as it began to ascend, pulling them up and out of Gerudo Valley. As Link reached the top, he clambered out desperately, while Zelda kept clinging onto his back out of fear until they were both safely out. They were both breathing heavily, but Zelda was still concerned about how badly injured Link could be. Letting go of his back, she tumbled over next to him and turned her head to see him.

Gasping and raising her hands to her mouth, tears welled up in Zelda's eyes. A few trickles of blood were coming out from underneath Link's hair and running down the side of his head, while the side of his tunic had been scratched through, leaving a cut down the right side of his body. His shoulders and knees were scraped heavily until bleeding too, but Link still had the energy to stand up and smile, speaking before Zelda could.

"Don't worry about me, it's just a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious."

Before Zelda could even respond of apologise, he pulled her back up to her feet and muttered, "We're close to home now, let's get going."

Link started to walk away, but Zelda ran after him and wouldn't let him continue without hearing an apology.

"Link, I can't believe I did that, it was-"

"Don't worry about it."

"But Link, you saved my life, you injured yourself just to-"

"Zelda," Link began, grabbing her softly and looking at her with a smile, "Don't worry about it. You'd do the same for me. Right now, I think we should just be focussing on getting home."

Zelda begrudgingly kept quiet and walked alongside Link, until they were at Hyrule Field and she had an idea.

"Link, come with me," she said quickly, grabbing his arm and pulling him behind her, running towards Lake Hylia. Link didn't seem to object, and they arrived soon. Zelda smiled. Although Gerudo Valley was dried up, the lake wasn't.

"Come on," she shouted as she threw her cloak off and jumped into the lake, feeling the cold water refreshing her boiling body. Link chuckled, then jumped in after her, causing another large splash. The two started splashing each other light-heartedly, before Zelda began to fuss over something.

"The water's meant to clean your wounds," she fussed, swimming up to Link, "But your face hasn't cleared up." Before Link could stop her, she dipped a hand in the water and slowly drew it across his cheek, rubbing away the blood. Blushing, Link let her dip her hand in the water again and rub her soft hand against his hair, before she began to smile. "There, all better."

For a second, she let her hand stay on Link's face, before she gave a shiver and moved it.

"Brrr… I was too hot, now it's too cold," muttered Zelda, clambering out of the lake in a soaking dress. Link climbed out after her in an equally soaking tunic, to find Zelda lying on the ground, failing to muster the energy she needed to start walking back to Link's house. Blushing and smiling, Link lay down next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Is this warming you up?"

Link could feel Zelda blushing too as she quietly stuttered an answer out, but Link didn't hear it. For a minute, they both lay there in silence, until Link finally decided it was time to get back.

"Zelda," he began, only to get no response. Moving over and seeing her face, he was surprised to see that she was asleep. Deciding to carry her back, he moved one of his arms, but heard Zelda whimpering in her sleep. Curiously, he put his arm back around her, and heard her sighing in relief. Pausing for a second, Link sighed and pulled Zelda's cloak over both of them so they wouldn't be disturbed, and decided not to interrupt her sleep.

Smiling uncontrollably, Link felt the warmth in his arms, wrapped around Zelda delicately, as he felt her heart beating, and felt her slowly breathing in and out in his arms. Resting his head on the ground next to her's, he muttered one last thing before he fell asleep too.

"Goodnight Zelda."


	18. Chapter 18

Zelda slowly regained her senses. Her eyes were still shut, but she was awake now, although she felt far too comfortable to move. However, as she tried to go back to sleep, she became more aware of her surroundings. The ground began to feel cold beneath her, and a sharp wind passed over her from the north. As she eventually opened her eyes, for a split second she saw nothing but darkness, before she turned to her side in panic and found Link sleeping next to her. His arm was draped around her, but as comfortable as it felt, Zelda knew that she would no longer be able to sleep unless she was in a bed.

"Link…"

Zelda whispered his name as she gently nudged him. He was slowly breathing in and out, but he showed no signs of waking. He was lying on his front, with his arm still outstretched around where Zelda had been sleeping. Zelda was now fully awake, and she even noticed the cloak she had worn in the desert a few metres away; it must have been blown off during the night. Zelda yawned and nudged Link a second time, before continuing to push him back and forth gently until he eventually awoke.

As he opened his eyes, Zelda smiled at the bemused look on his face when for a second, he wondered where they were, much like she had herself. When he recalled the events that had passed a few hours ago, a look of realisation dawned on him and he smiled back at Zelda, before yawning and saying quietly,

"Do you want to go home?"

Zelda nodded silently, enjoying the peace of the night, and stood up slowly. Her legs were still half-asleep, and Link offered her support, but she politely refused it. However, she didn't pull away when his hand met hers as they walked back to his house hand in hand. As they arrived at the door, Link fumbled in his pockets for a key, whilst Zelda took one last look at the surroundings at night before preparing to go back to sleep inside. Squinting slightly, she looked towards Hyrule Castle, and saw a flickering light in the distance, which was burning brightly considering how far away it was.

Beginning to feel drowsy again, Zelda dismissed the light as an early sun and nudged Link, who was feeling just as drowsy. As he unlocked the door, he felt Zelda's nudge and looked back to her, only to see her pointing at the light on the horizon as she muttered,

"How long do you think we were asleep?"

Link raised an eyebrow in his sleepy, confused state and replied, "Only a few hours. That can't be the sun, surely."

Zelda thought Link was merely talking out of surprise, until Link squinted hard at the light and repeated, "That can't be the sun…"

To Zelda's surprise, Link suddenly sprung into action and ran inside. She barely had time to step to the door before Link came barging out again, holding a small white box that he passed to her quickly, stuttering something about it being a first aid kit. Link was almost about to start running towards the light source, before Zelda managed to ask, "What's going on?"

"That's not the sun," Link managed to get out slowly, "That looks like Lon Lon Ranch."

Zelda felt all sources of drowsiness leave her, but she still barely had time to react as Link was already running towards the fire. Zelda pulled her cloak back on as quickly as she could and followed Link. After a minute or so, their fears were confirmed as Lon Lon Ranch came into sight, and it was indeed ablaze. Link paused to take in the damage for a few seconds, giving Zelda just enough time to catch up. As he turned to her, his face had an extremely fearful expression, and he would have surely rushed straight in were it not for Zelda's exclamation.

"Link, look! Malon's alright!"

Link turned back to Lon Lon Ranch just in time to see Malon running out, safe and sound. She looked worried, but seemed to calm down slightly when Link ran up to her and said a few sentences before rushing up to the ranch. Zelda was too far away to hear, but ran up to Malon immediately. Before Zelda could speak, Malon answered,

"Talon's getting the animals out of the barn and Link's gone to help him."

Zelda and Malon stood in awkward silence for a few seconds before Zelda asked,

"What do you think started the fire?"

It seemed clear to Zelda that Malon appreciated any conversation right now, and she observed the farm girl thinking to herself before she meekly replied, "I might have left a torch on in the barn and one of the cows might have kicked it over…"

"Don't worry about it. Link's here; everything will be fine."

Malon raised a quizzical eyebrow at Zelda, but gave a bittersweet smile for her attempt to lighten the mood. However, conversation ran dry soon after that, and the minutes dragged on and on with no sign of Link or Talon. As the fire raged on, eventually Malon could no longer take the waiting.

"I'm going back to look for Talon!"

Zelda got to her feet and tried to stop Malon, but the fiery redhead proved too much and stormed past.

"Malon, think! You can't just go back!"

"What else am I supposed to do? You know how stubborn Talon can get, he's probably trying to save every single cucco."

Zelda tried to respond, but a loud crash informed then that one of the barn buildings had collapsed, and Malon screamed, "Dad!" and ran back to the ranch. Zelda ran after her a few steps, then paused while she panicked and wondered what to do. Should she put herself at risk to find Link, or stay outside and wait? Luckily, as she was making her choice, a figure ran out of the ranch towards her. Her heart leapt and she began to scream, "Link!" but just before she could get his name out, she saw the figure closely enough to recognise it as Talon.

Talon kept running until he reached Zelda, where he stopped and put his hands on his knees, panting loudly. Zelda wanted to inquire about his current state, and began to ask,

"Talon? Are you alright?"

But was interrupted halfway through as Talon jumped in amazement and blurted out, "Zelda?"

Now was not the time for introductions, and Zelda knew it, so she kept her explanation short.

"I've been staying with Link recently, speaking of whom, is he alright?"

Talon started to respond, but another loud crash informed the pair that another large section of the barn had collapsed. Over the noise of the crackling flames, Talon noticed the absence of his daughter and panicked.

"Where's Malon?"

Smoke was beginning to flow in every direction from the flames, and Zelda coughed slightly before replying.

"She went back to-"

BOOM!

Zelda was interrupted as the main ranch building containing the bedrooms exploded into a small fireball. Zelda screamed but Talon managed to pull her down to the ground in time to avoid debris. On the ground, Zelda regained her senses and pulled her cloak over Talon and herself in an attempt to protect them from any small rubble. After a few seconds of chaos, Talon nervously stood up, followed by Zelda. As they surveyed the scene around them, they noticed splintered chunks of wood, torn apart by the power of the explosion, and the odd lump of rock that used to be a building. As they looked upwards at where the ranch had rested on the hill, they saw it was no more.

"Link!"

"Malon!!!"

Zelda and Talon shouted wildly, hoping for any sort of response from their close ones, but to no avail. After listening closely for a minute and hearing nothing but silence, Zelda and Talon were beginning to lose hope, until Zelda turned away for a second and heard a small cough.

Turning back, her face lit up with joy as she saw a small figure coming down the hill, carrying another. As they came into sight, Zelda felt an overwhelming sense of relief to see Link, in a charred black tunic, carrying Malon over his shoulders. Talon rushed to help, and arrived just in time to safely lower Malon onto the ground.

Link stumbled towards Zelda before collapsing onto the ground completely and rolling over onto his back, taking in deep breaths and pausing to splutter ever few second. Zelda knelt down at his side, but couldn't find any words to say to express the relief and the pride she felt in him, so she contented herself to hold his hand and stroke it softly.

Link stopped coughing after a few seconds, but continued to breathe heavily. Talon had successfully revived Malon, so the pair also made their way over to Link to thank him, although Malon could only crawl to him in her condition. Link's breaths finally slowed down, but Zelda had spotted that in the explosion, a large splintered chunk of wood had pierced Link's side. Thinking of the pain it must have been putting Link in, Zelda grabbed the chunk of wood and pulled it out swiftly; an action she instantly regretted.

Link sat up slightly and let out an agonised yell before collapsing back on the ground with a pained expression on his face, while Zelda covered her mouth in shock when she saw how large the cut had been, and how much blood Link was losing. Malon and Talon also noticed, and whilst Talon gasped loudly, Malon let out a small scream and desperately asked,

"Link! Link, are you alright?"

Zelda was desperately trying to stop the wound by any means possible, including pushing her cloak over it in an attempt to stop the blood, but nothing was working. She was beginning to fear for his life, before he weakly lifted his arm to her's and muttered,

"Zelda… the first aid kit…"

Zelda frantically looked for the first aid kit Link had given her, and found it quickly. Opening it, she saw a few sprays and bandages, but nothing that could treat a wound this big.

"Zelda… when you were Princess… did you ever sew?"

Zelda was taken aback by Link's question, and its irrelevant nature, but responded nonetheless.

"Yes, why?"

"… Under the bandages…"

Zelda looked back down at the first aid kit and pulled out the bandages, only to see a few needles and a large amount of thread. Realising what Link meant, she slowly looked from the needle to the wound in his side and back again, before silently and slowly shaking her head.

"No… no… Link, I can't possibly do that!"

"…Zelda…"

"No, I just can't! No, no… No!!!" Zelda was getting hysterical.

"…Please…"

Zelda looked back at the needles and whimpered incoherently, but Link used the last of his energy to grasp her hand with his.

"Zelda, please… I need your help. Please… I need you…"

Seeing Link in such desperate need of help and feeling his hand losing warmth, Zelda's breathing slowed down as she picked up a needle. However, as she turned back towards Link and took a closer look at the wound, she shivered and felt doubtful.

"Link, I really don't think I can do this!"

"You can Zelda, you're the only one who can help me right now…"

Zelda looked to Malon and Talon, who were both looking at her with hope in their eyes, and she looked back at Link, took a deep breath, and slowly put her hand on the injury. Link winced in pain and Zelda recoiled, but Link assured her, "Don't worry, its normal."

Zelda gripped the needle shakily, and tried to steady her hand as she neared the edge of the wound. Gulping, she tried again, and successfully pushed the needle through, dragging a small amount of thread behind it. She cast her gaze back to Link to make sure he was ok, but his eyes were closed and he was gritting his teeth to stop the pain. Zelda's nerves worsened, but she looked back at his injury and continued to sew.

As Zelda's work neared its halfway point, the importance of her help made her feel more and more nervous, and at one point she looked away from the wound completely and burst into tears. Breathing more heavily than Link at this point, she was on the verge of going into hysterics and felt as if she could no longer cope with the incredible stress. Feeling more fearful than ever, she looked towards the ground and muttered, "I can't, I can't, I can't…"

"You can!"

Zelda felt Link's hand on her shoulder, and it felt reassuring. Taking a few deep breaths, she wasn't able to hold back the tears, but she was able to concentrate, and Link was able to keep his hand on her shoulder for the next few minutes, while she tried to save him. Talon was feeling awkward, and stood up, said something about fetching water to help, and then ran towards Link's cottage.

Malon had been watching silently, but since Zelda was no longer in her cloak, she picked it up and tried to wipe away some of the blood that had been spilled by Link on the ground. The sheer volume of it both astounded and terrified her. Despite all this, Zelda continued to work through the tears, and eventually, she leaned back from her work and observed the wound. The stitching was clumsy, and it hadn't completely stopped the bleeding, but it was enough to stop Link from coming to serious harm. Even so, the tears wouldn't stop and her breathing wasn't slowing.

Link was now exhausted from the blood loss, but still had enough energy left in him to turn his head to Zelda and smile.

"You did great, Zelda," he muttered quietly, "I'm so proud of you right now…"

Zelda's sobs slowed, but didn't stop altogether, although she smiled slightly after hearing Link's voice. However, they were interrupted by the return of Talon, who had brought a large bucket of water and a glass, which he quickly poured some of the water into before handing it to Link, who gulped it down gratefully. Zelda felt relieved, until Malon asked a question she hadn't even thought about.

"Without the ranch, where will I live?"

Link was now half-sitting up and looked towards Talon to see if he had any idea before gulping down some more water to replace the blood he'd lost.

"Well, I can always stay with those friends in Kakariko, but I'm not sure if they'd let you stay, it's a small place…"

Link looked towards Zelda, then looked back to Malon and spoke quietly, "You could always join me and Zelda, provided Zelda agrees."

Malon was amazed. "You, you mean it? Really?"

"Sure, there's enough room for three. I can't have you homeless, can I?"

"Oh, Link!"

Malon wanted to hug Link, but in is current condition, that wouldn't have been wise, so she turned to Zelda.

"Is this ok with you? I wouldn't want to intrude."

Zelda was flabbergasted. On the one hand, she didn't want Malon to be homeless, but she loved living with Link, and only Link. Then again, after Link's offer, she could hardly say no.

"That's fine. You can stay."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you both!"

As Zelda wasn't injured, Malon pulled her into a hug, but didn't notice that Zelda wasn't hugging her back. Zelda was too busy thinking of what effects Malon would have on Link and Zelda living together. Gradually, she hugged Malon back, but her mind was elsewhere, wondering what the times ahead would be like with Malon living with them. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? Zelda's hug grew tighter as she relaxed and reassured herself that things would be alright. After all, how bad could it be?

She had no idea...


End file.
